Resisting the sedentary lifestyle Making positive changes
Encouraging a healthy
lifestyle is the best antidote to the sedentary life. This involves the
whole family eating a balanced diet and making physical activity a
routine part of your week. Achieving this might seem like a sea change
in your lifestyle or require only minor adjustments.
| Q: |
Why bother?
|
| A: |
Understanding why a change needs to be made is known to increase
the chance of any adjustment being sustained. Your child probably won’t
be too interested that a healthy lifestyle should reduce her risk of
disease in the future. However she may like to know she could have more
energy to run, jump, and climb, and that she’ll get extra time with you
for family activities. Engage her interest by explaining what happens to
her body when she gets active. She may be fascinated by children’s
anatomy books, which show how her heart and muscles work and why she
needs good food to give her energy.
|
Family favorites
Ask each family member to
name their favorite sport or play activity, and add something they’d
like to try which they don’t do at the moment. If your child struggles
to come up with new ideas, help out by listing some examples. Scheduling
plenty of what your family enjoys increases their motivation to get
active.
Seek solutions
Even a minor change in
family lifestyle will need effort to get the logistics right. Solve
problems before they arise by asking yourself what’s going to hold your
family back from being active? Are there going to be practical problems
such as getting to and from the activity, will the cost be prohibitive,
can you enroll in trial sessions or is a commitment required right away?
Consider how each activity will fit around other priorities in your
life, such as finding time for children’s homework and friendships or
making sure you can still catch your favorite TV shows. When you
recognize these barriers and actively try to find solutions you’re more
likely to succeed.
Make a plan
Setting clear, small goals
for your family can give you a motivation boost when you achieve each
one. Make a plan stating what your family is going to do, write it in
positive language, and be specific. For example, you might say, “We will
always walk to neighborhood shops,” rather than, “We won’t drive as
much.” Be realistic, and set goals you can achieve. If you give your
child the task of winning a swimming trophy, she may not appreciate just
taking part in the race.
Lead by example
Don’t expect your child to
get active if you don’t do it yourself. When you make changes to your
eating habits, exercise levels, and time spent outdoors as a whole
family, you’ll have a much greater chance of success.
Out and about
Spending time outdoors together as a family can be fun and provide great exercise.
