A gift for life, not just for Christmas
This is an apt time of year to talk about gifts, in the run up to Christmas. But perhaps not in the way you might expect.
The gift of physical fitness
I’m not talking about the latest iPhone (number 17 they are working on now, that makes me feel so old!), or a new virtual reality (VR) games console - although they do look fantastic.
I’m talking about a gift that keeps on giving, a skill set, an ability and an understanding of how to improve yourself physically. Something that’s not just for Christmas, but for a lifetime. The gift of physical fitness.
Oh, when we were young…
When we were younger we didn’t need any help or encouragement to get up and get moving. Think back, in fact you can probably remember as well as I can how pretty quickly you have to barricade the house, ‘child-proof’ the living room and even restrict movement at times for the safety of our own little people.
Think of the ability of toddlers to simply drop down into a bum-to-floor squat with such finesse to investigate a worm on the grass. Mobility to be admired! Some young people maintain this ability to do absolutely anything physical throughout their childhood. Whether that’s climbing and hanging on a tree (see below), jumping over a hurdle at the park, or just being able to play sport non-stop for hours on end. In my experience, that is not the case for the majority. And I’m afraid the statistics back this up in this country when it comes to childhood obesity and activity.
Why not climb and hang from a tree?
The facts
A study published by the National Child Measurement Programme, found that in the year 2022-23, 36.6% of 10 to 11 year olds were overweight or obese in England. This is up from 33.2% in the year 2014-15.
A Sport England survey reported that across the academic year of 2023-24 as little as 47.8% of children are meeting the Chief Medical officer’s guidelines of 60 minutes or more of sport or physical activity every day.
8 things we can do as parents
So what can we do as parents to prevent the decline of movement and increase the participation, regularity and enjoyment of physical activity and healthy habits in our young people?
Be a good example personally of health - if you display healthy and active habits, your child will pick up on those cues and aim to emulate them (think taking care of yourself, exercise, nutrition, stress management). Role model these positive behaviours by showing your young people that it’s a priority in your life.
Don’t discriminate when it comes to activity type - encourage all types of physical activity (walking, playing, hiking, games, sports, group activities).
Fuel the fire - if they love squash, support them. If they are enjoying karate, see which belt they can achieve next.
Develop an interest in their interests - if your son loves squash but you’ve never played, take a couple of lessons and get on court with him. If you daughter loves tennis, bring her to the squash courts so she can learn the error in her ways.. (joking, of course, tennis is ok too).
Plan ahead - schedule time in yours and your children’s weekly diaries for exercise and physical activity.
Educate about the positive effects of exercise - we know the positive benefits on physical health, cardiovascular ability, fitness and strength but also the benefits to mental health.
Encourage healthy use of screens - this one may also come down to setting an example. Taking control of your own use of screens will demonstrate more effectively than any words you can use of a healthy relationship with technology.
Set your home up with health in mind - this means visible references to the outdoors, to sports, easy access to active toys like skipping ropes or balls to throw (outside). Like adults and unhealthy snacks, if they are out and about and accessible all day - they will get eaten. For young people, if technology is the only thing accessible and visible, they’ll probably want to use those things a bit more than we’d like them to.
A family that exercises together…
Ultimately, we are all trying to do the best we can for our kids to raise healthy, strong and mentally resilient young people. If we can be a great positive role model ourselves with our own physical activity habits and provide the opportunities for our young people to get involved in a variety of different sports and physical activities, the battle against childhood obesity is all but won.
Stephen Thompson
If you have any questions about this article and how to best support your young person in sport then feel free to send me an email at: stephenthompsoncoaching@gmail.com and I’d be happy to help.