Motivating your children to be active at home

Involving them in daily activities – Ask the children if they go to the shops at weekends or evening? Could they Walk, Jog, cycle with their parents. Ask the children if they could help their careers clean the house, clean the garden.

Joining a Sports club or Holiday club – At school children take part in PE lessons for at least 2 hours a week. What do they do after school or within school holidays, getting them involved in clubs will get them up and out of the house.

Plan outing’s – Plan day trips that include walking, cycling, canoeing anything that they may not get to do on a daily basis. Getting the children interested in being active, will allow them to enjoy it and want to do it more often.

Provide active toys – Could we set Homework for the children? Allowing the child to take a football, hula hoop, racket and ball home with them, allow them to create a game. Get them to write it all up, include photos, drawings and who they have accomplished this with.

Turn off the TV – Ask the children if they can turn the TV, iPad, PlayStation off between certain hours of the day. They will in turn want to go outside and enjoy playing with their toys. Setting goals and rewards for their goals will spur them on to do it. Again ask them to document what they did in this time.

Be a role model – You will be actively showing the children what to do within your PE Sessions. Show them your skills you can do, even tell them stories about your Sports teams.

Food– Remember although staying active keeps the child fit, speak to the children about the right food choices. Could you send the children home with a food questionnaire or get them to write down what they have eaten over the holidays, describe what was good and not so good for them.

Establish routine – Obviously if the child is going to afterschool or weekend clubs they will be going at a regular time. If you set them regular homework tasks they may get into such a routine that they end up going home and switching their TV, iPad time to active time.

The above are just a few points that Progressive Sports specialists think of when keeping children active during weekends and holidays. There are many more that they can explore over the school year.