Many parents are curious about how to encourage their kids to be more active and healthy. While everyone knows the basics of eating healthy, questions often focus on exercise. This article aims to answer two common questions about kids’ fitness and to share some guidelines for keeping your child active and healthy.
First, let’s face the reality: today’s children are less healthy than ever. Over 50 years ago, more than 40% of kids walked or biked to school. Today, that number has dropped to just 10%. Nowadays, more kids are glued to video games and tablets instead of playing outside. Unfortunately, inactive and overweight kids tend to become inactive and overweight adults. However, this can be easily changed with a bit of effort from parents. Kids naturally love to run around and explore. We just need to tap into that.
Now, let’s answer some important questions:
**Will My Child’s Growth Be Stunted By Lifting Weights?**
Some people believe that weightlifting can stunt a child’s growth, but there’s no solid proof to support this claim. In fact, lifting light weights in a controlled environment can help kids develop stronger bones and leaner muscles. Like any activity, poor technique or lifting weights that are too heavy can cause injury, but this risk is present in any sport. The evidence suggests that weightlifting, when done correctly, is not harmful and can actually be beneficial.
**Is It Beneficial For a Child To Follow a Strict Fitness Program?**
It depends on the child. For most kids, who are naturally active throughout the day, a structured fitness program isn’t necessary. These programs are more important for kids who are extremely inactive. In today’s world, we don’t have to be physically active to get what we need – we can just hop in a car. Exercise is mostly about keeping fit because many people lead pretty sedentary lives.
**Recommendation To Keep Your Kids Active**
Here are some tips to help raise active, healthy children:
– **Make Play the Focus:** Kids love to play. Encourage their natural tendency to run around and explore. This will help them stay active and develop a love for physical activity that can continue into adulthood.
– **Let Them Climb:** Allow your kids to safely climb trees, pull-up bars, ropes, or anything else. Installing a climbing rope at home is a great idea.
– **Encourage Jumping:** Jumping on and off things helps kids learn to land safely, reducing injury risks while keeping them active.
– **Promote Balancing:** Set up balance beams or planks in your garden so your kids can practice balancing, which is an important skill for both everyday and athletic activities.
– **Teach Them To Swim:** Swimming is a valuable skill that’s also fun and good exercise.
Kids will naturally want to do adventurous activities that may sometimes result in minor injuries. The best approach is to encourage them and be there for support when things go wrong. The more active and adventurous they are from a young age, the healthier they will likely remain as adults.
So, if you want your child to be fit and healthy, encourage them to play and explore as much as possible. It’s really that simple.