The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that children and adolescents get at least 60 minutes of exercise per day. You should encourage your children to stay active and participate in daily physical activity. However, when your encouragement becomes too pushy, it can have adverse effects and might make your child feel unloved.
Support
Always remind your child how much you love her and value her. Make sure your child knows that you accept her the way she is, at any weight. Make it clear to your child that you want her to exercise in order to live an enjoyable, healthy life rather than simply to lose weight. You must establish this basic trust and support so that your child does not misunderstand you when you encourage her to exercise.
Passive Ways to Encourage Exercise
Set an example for your children by maintaining a consistent exercise routine yourself. Demonstrate that you enjoy this exercise and feel good after working out. If you complain about exercise or talk about how much you're dreading going to the gym, your child will notice that and will assume that exercise cannot be fun.
Discouraging passive activities represents another effective way to encourage exercise. If you put a strict limit on the amount of time your child can spend watching television or sitting in front of the computer, your child will naturally find other ways to occupy his time. He might head outside, for example, to shoot hoops or jump rope.
Sensitivity
The Cleveland Clinic recommends that you encourage children to join a sports team or active class at school or a community center. Talk to your child about possible teams or classes she could participate in. Do not force a child to join a team or class that she does not want to join. If your child feels forced to participate in something she hates, she might begin to dread all forms of physical activity. Encourage your child to choose an activity that she can enjoy and to which she can look forward.
Family Activity
If you encourage your child to exercise consistently but then do not exercise yourself, the child might feel like he is being punished. The Cleveland Clinic recommends planning active outings for the whole family. Try taking a family bike ride, or visit an attraction that requires lots of walking, such as a park or large zoo.
Let Kids Be Kids
The Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic both discourage parents from putting their children on treadmills, elliptical trainers or other workout machines. Children often gravitate toward fun physical activity in their free time, such as jump roping, riding a scooter, playing tag or climbing on a jungle gym. These kid-friendly activities provide plenty of health benefits and count toward a child's daily 60 minutes of exercise.
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