Did you know that our children aren't getting enough physical activity in their day? Did you know that 1 in 4 children are overweight or obese?
I did not!!
Did you know that children are supposed to get 60 minutes physical activity everyday? I didn't know this either. I've never sat down and thought about it before. I never thought "are my kids getting enough exercise?" How am I going to get them to do physical activity for 60 minutes? Thankfully it doesn't have to be all at once. It can be spaced out through the day making it easier to get the whole 60 minutes in.
When I was younger we never came inside. The weather was, from what I can remember, much kinder to us back then. We didn't have 276 kids channels. We had 2. And the news was on one so I wasn't that great. We had no reason to be inside. Now there are so many things that allow kids to sit on their butts and do nothing. If you think about it, it's not surprising there are so many over weight kids.
Thankfully, my kids are very active. They run me ragged by the end of the day and never what to come inside. Even if it's pouring rain. I think that comes from seeing me and their dad being active. We run, cycle and ride horses. Our lifestyle means that we're nearly always outside doing something.
Safefood have launched a very exciting campaign all about encouraging physical activity through play for children – it’s called "Bring Back Play". It’s part of their 3 year campaign on childhood obesity in Irish children.
I've been sharing some of the games I used to play as a kid with my two. When I was my daughters age my favourite thing was to run around my yard and field and pretend I was a horse. Galloping, jumping sticks on the ground. I was obsessed with horses and still am. They love to play this game. I loved to hulla hoop, ride my bike, skip and hop scotch. All simple things that keep the kids active.
If your kids are still fighting with you and still don't want to get up and go outside or the weather is just not cooperating, here are some more things that might get them up and moving.
Scavenger/treasure hunt
(This is simple getting the kids to go for a walk/cycle or do it around the house and look for a list of things.)
Indoor hop scotch
Pillow case races
Balloon tennis
Dance party
Wii exercise games
Cartoon exercise games
(This is where you set an exercise for certain things that happen in a cartoon. So if it's Mickey Mouse, every time Mickey says "Oh Toodles" the kids have to do an exercise.)
There really is no excuse in my opinion that our kids can't get in the 60 minutes. It so important for them to start young so they don't have to deal with this when they are older. Lead by example and set good ones for your kids.
This fact sheet from Safe Food really spells it out so everyone can see the benefits that exercise has on our kids and their information hub has a list of childhood games and rules for the oldies who can't quite remember how to play these games.
If you're on Instagram, use the hashtag #60minutesaday to share how your getting your kids to get up and get active.
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