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I believe that it is very important that we, as parents, keep our children moving as soon as they learn to walk. Having said that, I have not lived up to my own expectations! It's much easier to say than do when it comes to homeschooling and keeping kids active. My son is naturally thin, but my daughter has inherited her mother's insulin resistance. I knew that she was overweight and took her in for some testing and her blood results came back abnormal. Since that time, we have added her to our fitness center membership and she goes with me to work out several times weekly. She is also training in karate which I do believe to be helpful in keeping her weight down.
A child's disposition will often dictate their own fitness level. My son is naturally active and loves to be outdoors doing "boy things" with his friends in the backyard. My daughter is very content to sit and read books or play with her handheld electronic game. We do try to limit the amount of time she spends indoors and encourage her to get out and get physical, but it is often like talking to a brick wall. We do live in a neighborhood and she has the opportunity to ride a bicycle or skate on the driveway, but she is just not an active person like nature (again, just like her mother!). It is taking some training to get BOTH of us working out regularly, but we help each other out and encourage each other in our fitness goals.
I have to say that our daughter was VERY fit when she was running daily at her private school years ago. Here's an article on getting children running. It was a very basic workout that the children had to do each day. Beginning with the first week, they ran the # of laps that equalled the week of school; so each day of Week 1, the children ran ONE lap around the gym. The 2nd week, the kids ran TWO laps around the gym and so on. I honestly don't think they were running 36 laps at the end, but they were running a fair amount each day! Beginning with the 2006-7 school year, I am going to have the kids walking or running laps around the perimeter of our driveway. It just so happens that it is sloped so this will also give them some good interval training as they go up the hill and down again! Once they can do that, we'll go walking and/or running up and down our street, which is also sloped. We will do this BEFORE lunchtime and I will be joining them. If you must organize exercise to make sure it's happening, walking is probably the easiest and cheapest method to make sure your child gets moving!
Sometimes, I wish that we lived on property that required us to work daily. In 2007, we will be creating raised garden beds and growing some vegetables. In addition, the area underneath our 2-story deck needs finishing(our home is built into a hill and the deck off of the main level is built UP so that there is actually a 2nd patio area below). My hope is that next spring, we can begin clearing out the underneath section so that we can put some sort of pavers down and begin to use that area below the deck. It is shaded better in the afternoon and could use some nice swings!Getting prepped to get all of this done will be physical labor and the kids will be helping. We have considered buying a trampoline, but our backyard is not fenced in and we don't want to be held responsible if someone would get hurt on it. A re-bounder, or mini trampoline, provides great exercise and is also good for kids with ADHD. I may look into purchasing one of these soon. I encourage you to find creative ways to make sure your kids get physical frequently.
It is my hope that you will find something useful here on my site!
I currently enjoy the privilege of being able to stay at home
to homeschool my children and I am always striving to be
the best caretaker for my precious family.
"I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me."
~ Philippians 4:13 ~
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All Rights Reserved. © 2006.
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