I just had to come on and give my thoughts on all of this here today. There’s been a number of articles over the last few days that have talked about the reality of the childhood obesity crisis, the state that the nation is in, how unhealthy we etc but the one that has just blown me away this morning and I’m just going to read this headline here ‘millions fail to walk briskly for 10 minutes a month’.
I had to reread it when I first read it this morning and that’s what it says; there are people out there and not
just a few but millions of people who aren’t walking briskly for 10 minutes a month. Now this study is focused on adults but what we have to ask ourselves is what are we doing to prevent the children that we’ve got in our care today from becoming one of these adults and one of these statistics in years to come?
We see it day in day out – it’s not hard to get kids to move – kids love to move! It’s natural for them. They love to play! Children learn through play – they’re naturally energetic, they’re naturally bendy and
foldable and this is what they love to do.
So really as parents as teachers as anybody working with kids it’s our responsibility to encourage this sort of lifestyle for them.
It doesn’t have to be formal structured exercise for children – get them outside, go for a walk play on the bike, kick a ball run around the house, play hide-and-seek, chase them up and down the hall a few times before bed! Have fun with your kids and by doing so you’re creating a real bond between yourself and between them and you’re encouraging them that Fitness is fun! That it’s natural and it’s something that we do every day and it’s
something that we get a real buzz out of, especially coming into these winter evenings – wrap up and put
your coat on, get outside, go for a nature walk.
Kids love that kind of thing and by not encouraging this sort of movement this is what’s leading to the statistics that we’re reading about today so just think about what it is what message you’re sending to your kids.
Make meal times regular and make them family times. Don’t allow kids to sit in front of the TV when
they’re eating. Limit screen time.
All these little things add up and remember the habits the children learn in childhood are the ones that will stay with them so give them healthy habits from the start