With kids these days increasingly engaged with their video games and their X boxes and TVs and computers, they aren’t getting the sort of active childhoods that they need and should have.
Being active in childhood can have physical, social, psychological and health benefits in childhood and may also set a healthy pattern of activity for later in life.
An active child will sleep better, have a healthier body which is more resistant to disease, have a better posture and so on. Exercise can also help a child concentrate better, develop better self confidence and reduce stress and anxiety.
So what is your child’s fitness personality? And how can you help your child as much benefit at possible from exercise?
You can tell an Athletic Child by the fact that he or she in naturally inclined towards activity.
He or she may be on their school sports team such as basketball and may also enjoy the competition of competitive sport and excelling in their chosen activity.
You can help provide opportunities and resources to such a child to remain engaged and interested in the sport.
While providing opportunity to compete, a parent can also teach the child about enjoyment of a sport for the participation and not necessarily in order to win each time.
Motivate the child and be involved in their progress – watch as many matches as possible and give encouragement, while also taking care of optimum rest and nutrition for an active child.
The Casual Athlete is the child who enjoys going to the park or riding around the block with a friend or occasionally tossing a Frisbee in the yard. Such a child may need some structure to make sure that opportunity for some sort of physical activity is incorporated into each day.
Such a child may enjoy parental company and variety in physical activity. The important thing is to keep the casual athlete interested and motivated enough to remain active.
The Sedentary Child is one who prefers TV to the outdoors; the X box to Frisbee and so on. It can be a challenge for parents to create situations of physical activity that are interesting and motivating for a child such as this.
A parent can lead by example and make it mandatory for the whole family to get active on a regular basis, to make it a fun family time.
A parent can also encourage the child to have friends who are more active and healthy, which can have a positive impact on a sedentary child.
