Motivating Your Child to Exercise
by Veronica Scott

Description: Fun ideas for getting your family together to exercise.

"Drop and give me 20" is not exactly going to motivate a child to exercise. The best way to get a child to exercise is to not let them know they are exercising at all! There are many fun activities that you can do as a family to exercise. Here are some ideas:

• Go for a walk in the park, around the neighborhood or on a trail. Try hiking in a park with hills and rocks. It will be so much fun; the kids won't even know they are exercising!
• Take you kids to the playground. They will get tons of exercise running around a playground and you can join them!
• Play a game of hopscotch.
• Take a family bike ride together.
• Go roller-skating or ice-skating. It's great exercise as long as moms and dads can keep from falling on their bums!
• Swimming is great exercise and fun for everyone. If the weather is cold, try finding an indoor pool to go to.
• Jump on a trampoline. Yes, moms and dads can jump too! Trampolines are lots of fun and provide quite a workout. Don't be surprised if you are sore the next day.
• Introduce jumping rope to your child. You can even teach them some of those little rhymes you use to sing while jumping rope as a kid.
• Go bowling, believe it or not, bowling provides some physical exercise and can be a family event.
• If you have a pet, have your child take the dog for a walk or throw the ball to the dog in the yard.
• Go snow skiing, sledding or tubing during the winter. It's great exercise during those cold months.
• Have your kids help you in the garden. Some kids love gardening while others might not. This provides some low-impact exercise for all involved.
• How about a game of tag or hide-and-seek? This is great fun and great exercise for everyone. You can play outside or even indoors during bad weather.
• Put on some music and everyone dance! The kids will love it and get a few laughs out of some of your dance moves!
• Get out the squirt guns! Run, run, run and try to squirt everyone and keep from getting squirted. Kids plus squirt guns equals fun and exercise.
• Try throwing a ball or Frisbee. This provides great exercise with all the running and catching.
• Plan a good old-fashioned family basketball, baseball, or football game.

Just by simply playing outside instead of being stuck in front of the television set provides children with exercise. Be sure to keep the kids well hydrated and practice good eating habits as well. Eating a dozen cookies after a hike kind of defeats the purpose!

Some other ways to get your kids to exercise is to sign them up for karate lessons or another sporting activity such as soccer, horseback riding, cheerleading or basketball. Find out what peaks their interest and go from there.

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