Don’t let school break become obesity break. Here are 7 fun ways to maintain your child’s health habits during this school vacation. All of these ideas are designed to encourage your kids to learn what you already know: Active is healthy. Exercise is good for you. Eating clean tastes good and feels great. And vacation is tons of fun.
World Health Organisation (WHO) reports (5 October 2022) that globally, 81% of adolescents aged 11-17 years were insufficiently physically active in 2016. Adolescent
girls were less active than adolescent boys.
Well, the reality is that the children will indulge in screen time – you can’t keep them away from their gaming gadgets like play stations, x-box and the iPads. But the good news is that you can encourage them to the real play too. Once they taste the fun of outdoors, chances are that it will become relatively easier to limit their screen time.
So here are 7 ways to encourage exercise for your child’s growth and development
1. Set the right example
Rise up every morning the way you did during school days and take them along with you for the morning walk or for the sport you play. Watching you enjoy will make them emulate you and will get them interested. You could ‘up the game’ by setting small little challenges evry now and then between the two of you.
2. Enrol for a summer special batch of competitive sport.
Disciplined and structured play with their own peers is great to keep them active and explore a new sport. Who knows they will discover their life’s passion this summer?
3. Don’t allow boredom.
After initial few days of vacation, children are bound to run out of ideas and will fall prey to mindless TV viewing or video gaming. Ask them to create a schedule for their day, apportioning enough time for play and screen (yes, when it is apportioned – they will limit the hours themselves). Sprinkle it with music, art, craft, summer classes and learning a new skill. Help them adhere to the schedule and you will find them productive and far more active.
4. Nurture a life.
To be responsible for a life whether it is a pet or a plant can be hugely engaging. If you already have a pet at home, let your child take more responsibility for the pet’s everyday chores. Morning-evening walks will ensure more bonding and playtime for your child. So is the case for gardening. Moving around the garden (what if it is just a few pots in the balcony) and letting them nurture the growing plant will allow them to be active and wonder at every new leaf that grows.
5. Encourage sleep.
Vacation should not mean late nights and late mornings thereby leaving the rest of the day in a quandary. Encourage your child to goto bed at a fixed time (it could be later than the usual during school days) and they will wake up fresh with a good night’s sleep. Remember good sleep is the golden thread to good health.
6. Say “Yes” to cooking.
Do not allow children to equate junk food to tasty food. Allow them to cook and experiment dishes of their choice. Anything cooked at home with fresh ingredients is far more healthy than what comes from a packet or is bought off the shelf. Eating home-cooked food will keep them light on their feet and delighted as it will be food of their choice too.
7. Get friends involved.
“Doing it alone becomes a barrier for some children,” Dr Sanket (PT) says. Invite some neighborhood friends over and see how fast they come up with active things to do. (Just tell them to keep the mischief to a minimum.) You could spring up a lot of options for them to choose from the Physical activities listed below.
Owing to the very many benefits of physical activity, American Health Association (AHA) recommends all children age 2
& older should-
- Participate in atleast 60 minutes of enjoyable, moderate intensity physical activities everyday that are developmentally appropriate.
- If your child doesn’t have a full 60-minute activity break each day, try to provide atleast 2 of 30-minutes periods in which they engage in activities appropriate to their age & stage of physical and emotional development.
Physical activity for Children that meet the guidelines:
Your child could choose from a variety of these: try to cover atleast one from each type.
Moderate–intensity aerobic
- Active recreation, such as hiking, skateboarding, rollerblading
- Bicycle riding
- Brisk walking
Vigorous–intensity aerobic
- Active games involving running and chasing, such as tag
- Bicycle riding
- Jumping rope
- Martial arts, such as karate
- Running
- Sports such as soccer, ice or field hockey, basketball, swimming, tennis
Muscle-strengthening
- Games such as tug-of-war
- Modified push-ups (with knees on the floor)
- Resistance exercises using body weight or resistance bands
- Rope or tree climbing
- Sit-ups (curl-ups or crunches)
- Swinging on playground equipment/bars
Bone-strengthening
- Games such as hopscotch
- Hopping, skipping, jumping
- Jumping rope
- Running
- Sports such as gymnastics, basketball, volleyball, tennis
How much of physical activity is recommended?
WHO guidelines and recommendations provide details for different age groups and specific population groups on how much physical activity is needed for good health. In general, WHO recommends at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity per day for children.
“Inactive children are going to become inactive adults”. Hence promoting physical activity right from childhood is utmost important.
