How to Get Your Child to Start Exercising
Getting a child to start exercising has become a real challenge for parents today because the child is more interested in spending time in front of the television screen playing video games or watching their favourite show/sport, interacting with friends via Internet on the computer, or spending time using some other high-tech electronic device.
Considering the importance of exercise on health and its numerous benefits, parents cannot and should not give up on motivating their child to start exercising. Educating the child on the benefits of exercise and coming up ways to make physical activity fun, a parent can accomplish the challenging task of getting his child to start exercising.
Instructions
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1
The first thing that you need to do is to talk to your child about exercise. Educate them on the importance of exercise on health. Tell them about some really obvious benefits such as weight control and increased stamina. Emphasise on how exercise can help to increase energy, since it can help them perform better in sports and make gym classes much easier. Also educate them on how the body works and how the heart and other parts of the body are able to perform their function more efficiently if one exercises. You can also tell them about the diseases and other consequences of not exercising.
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2
A child is greatly influenced by his elders, especially his parents. If you really want your child to start taking interest in exercise, begin setting up an example. Asking others, even your own child, to do something after telling him about a long list of benefits associated with that thing and not doing it yourself will not help you in your cause at all. Instead, it may backfire and cause your child to lose whatever interest he had in fitness.
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3
Do not push your child to his limit on the very first day of exercise. Instead, take it slow. Start with an exercise session of five to ten minutes and after maintaining this routine for a few days, say a week, extend is by five minutes. Keep adding minutes to your exercise routine after a few days until it gets to an acceptable time. 30 minutes of exercise should be more than sufficient. Do not make your child perform really tough exercises in the beginning. Begin with the basic stuff and gradually introduce him to more intensive exercises.
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4
Make exercise fun for him. Try to be creative and come up with something that will help your child exercise without him even realising that he is actually doing that. Play “Tag” or some other game with him. If your child is into video games, buy a Kinect for Xbox 360 or a PS Move kit for the PlayStation 3 and join him for some family gaming fun once you return from work every evening. This will also help you to bond with him.
