Keeping the Family Fit
Obie Editorial Team
Everyone in your family needs weekly exercise, including your toddlers. If you want to ensure that your children grow up with lifelong healthy habits, the process needs to start with you. Fortunately, with toddlers in the house, getting exercise isn’t as difficult as you may think. Toddlers need on average 30 minutes of structured physical activity and 60 minutes of unstructured activity every day. If you participate in this, you will be getting the perfect amount of exercise as well.
Getting in Physical Activity Everyday
To encourage your toddler to be active, get active yourself. There are ways to do this even when it’s rainy and you and your family can’t go outdoors. To start with, make sure you have the proper equipment for indoor play. A lack of equipment can easily lead to boredom and sedentary activities like watching T.V. and sitting around. What you need is:
• Foam balls that won’t break things when they’re thrown
• Bean bags
• Scarves for dancing
These types of things don’t seem like much, but they can be used for a ton of different games inside the house. Bean bags can be used for hand-eye coordination games, balancing games, and even scavenger hunt type of games. Also, toddlers love to dance and dancing is also a great way for you to burn extra calories as well.
Put on a CD or Pandora station that you and your toddler can dance to and break out the scarves. Also, hula hoops are an excellent way to add a little more excitement to dancing as well. If you have the space, invest in a child’s hula hoop and one for yourself.
Outdoor Play
You have a lot more choices for outdoor play. Your entire family can play in your front or backyard, or even engage in some community activities as well. Check out options for swimming, bike riding, and even just walking around your community. Older children may require some bribing to get them to exercise, but that’s the great thing about toddlers. You never have to convince them to play around and burn energy.
Eating Right
Along with your new exercise routines, you need to ensure that you family is eating healthy, balanced meals. If you get your toddler used to these foods now, they will continue to eat them as they grow. A child raised on sugary or processed foods will have a harder time losing weight and changing their eating habits when they’re older.
Scholastic. (n.d.). Quick click: 7 ways to keep your family fit indoors. Scholastic Parents.