Find Fun Sports and Recreational Activities to Help Your Kids Lose Weight
Active children have no shortage of games and recreational activities they want to do. They might want to join a soccer league only to decide on ice skating the next day. They love to jump, hop, climb, and seem to be fixtures at the playground. These kids usually do not need any help with losing weight, since they are burning off whatever calories they are ingesting on a regular basis. This explains why some kids who appear to subsist on a diet consisting mainly of chips, dips, and sodas are as skinny as a rail.
On the flipside are the kids are not in the least active. Bona fide couch potatoes, they exercise their thumbs when playing video games, but short of that exercise, the only time they alight from the couch is to make that trek to the fridge, foraging for quick and easy meals. These children quite frequently are obese and require help with losing weight. Sometimes they fail at this endeavor simply because schools and parents focus so much more on reading, writing and arithmetic than the engagement in healthy activities and recreational opportunities.
Sure, you do not want to sacrifice your child’s academic prowess at the altar of play, but at the same time finding fun sports and recreational activities to help your kids lose weight is going to greatly enhance their quality of life as well as their life expectancy. Moreover, do you really want to teach your child about a life as a couch potato as opposed to a life of fun and excitement – when appropriate?
Of course, active children usually require active parents, and if you yourself dislike physical activity, sports, recreation and anything that demands more of you than simply pressing a remote button, your child’s weight loss may not happen. As a matter of fact, you may actually be modeling obesity and the means to remain that way rather than encourage your kids to lose weight, and support that dieting habits.
Start early on and do not wait for the weight to become a huge obstacle. If your toddler is the perennial odd man out or simply cannot figure out how to play with the equipment and is pushed to the side, you must step in and help. Teach your tot how to use the slide, do not be afraid to model digging in the sand, and enjoy playing games with the playground equipment. Leading by example is worth a lot more than telling him to get on out there and play, especially if the child is not sufficiently aggressive to demand help, attention, or turns on the playground.
If your child is older, obese and does not seem to enjoy sports, recreation, and other games, it is time to get the whole family involved and adopt a family sport or activity. Perhaps badminton, bowling, or swimming is something that the family could enjoy together. This makes it less of a chore for a child in need of weight loss, and more of a fun family activity that has the added benefit of getting him moving.