Get Kids in Shape this Summer
Longer Days, Fewer Scheduled Activities Gives Kids Time to Exercise
May 11, 2009
Summer is an ideal time to start a fitness and exercise program that the whole family can enjoy. The daily scheduling pressures of school, sports, and other activities slow and give kids and families time to reconnect, get outside, and get moving together. Use some of these ideas to build your child's body, heart, and sense of community.
Neighborhood Swim Team
Kids love being in the pool during the hazy, hot, humid days of high summer. Instead of just splashing around or lying on a float, start a neighborhood recreational swim team with intramural meets. Kids love to race one another and getting neighborhood races going at the pool allows kids to show their competitive spirit without overheating.
If your community has a newsletter or website, post the days and times of these events to get more kids involved. Plan on having kids run several races using different strokes to maximize the number of laps they complete during a neighborhood race. Bring sunscreen, reapply it often during these events, and remind others to do follow suit.
Morning Walking/Running Clubs
When the mercury is soaring, running during the afternoon heat can be dangerous, but mornings are a great time to get out there and take a long walk or a run with your kids. Have your kids round up other friends in the neighborhood to join in the fun. Try taking different routes around the neighborhood and having different kids lead on different days.
Have kids bring plenty of water to sip while they stroll and jog around the community. Impromptu races and hide-and-seek games often spring from these morning strolls or jogs and keep the kids involved and having fun. Set individual or group goals such as a trip to a water park or other fun summer destination if the group meets a substantial goal, like walking or running 500 miles total as a group over the summer.
After Dinner Bike Rides
Instead of clicking on the television after dinner, click the clasp on your child's bicycle helmet for an evening ride around your community. During the evening hours, flowers and flowering bushes give off piquant aromatics that delight the senses, filling the air with sweetness while you glide past them at a speed faster than a run or walk.
While you may not necessarily feel like exercising after dinner, scientists have found that exercising after meals keeps those late night munchies at bay, which will also help you and your kids eat less late at night. This is a key contributor to weight gain, according to the 4 June 2007 BBC News Exercise After Eating" Diet Tip.
If biting insects are a problem in your area, cycling reduces chances of mosquitoes and other biting insects finding and landing on you because of your velocity, making biking ideal in the early evenings when insects can be most active.
Track and Chart Progress
Kids like to see that they are making progress and accomplishing a goal. Before beginning the summer fitness program, chart your child's height, weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), resting heart rate, and blood pressure. Set measurable short term and long-term fitness goals, such as swimming 100 yards in 3 minutes, lowering BMI by several points, or biking 100 miles over the summer. Mark dates when your child hopes to accomplish these goals and start charting activities and progress.
Place the chart where the family can easily see it and chart progress daily. Every two to four weeks, recalculate your child's BMI, weight, resting heart rate and blood pressure to see how his body is adapting to its new routine. For more visual results, take a photograph of your child on the first day of each month so he can see how his body is changing over time.
School demands, hectic after-school schedules and evening homework make it difficult for kids to stay physically fit during the school year, making summer the opportune time to get moving again and back into a state of fitness. By using goals and charting activities to keep kids motivated, and by getting the neighborhood families involved and working toward fitness goals together, you will be building stronger hearts, bodies, community and friendships that can last far beyond the days of summer.
For more information on launching your own fitness program as a job search strategy, see Exercise to Land a New Job.
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