At the time of writing this article, Pokemon Go is well on its way to becoming a global phenomenon with millions of people playing this game on their phones all over the world.
What is remarkable about this particular game is that it is one of the few that is actually popular with parents, and the simple reason why is because it encourages their children to get out into the real world, explore their local area and get some exercise.
The fact is that many children spend most of their spare time glued to their smartphones, tablets and laptops, and are not as active as children from previous generations. So anything that gets them out of the house has to be a good thing, even if they will still be using their smartphones to play this game.
Of course this is not the only way to make them more active. Here are some tried and trusted ways you can encourage them to get more exercise and help to prevent them becoming overweight:
Go Swimming
Swimming is one of the most complete forms of exercise because as well as improving your fitness level, it is also great for toning up your upper and lower body. So if you can encourage your children to take up swimming, it will obviously help them to stay fit, healthy and strong.
The thing about swimming is that it is a lot of fun. Many children of all ages love to play around in the pool or the sea. Therefore once you take them to your local pool a few times, they will inevitably want to do more because they actually enjoy this form of exercise.
Play Outside
The sad reality of modern life is that children don’t really play outside as much as they used to because they are always stuck indoors playing computer and video games, watching TV and chatting to their friends on Facebook and other social media sites.
Therefore you really need to make an effort to encourage them to play some kind of sport outdoors by buying them a football or a cricket bat and stumps, for example, or a baseball or basketball set if they are interested in American sports, for instance.
Play with them if you have to, or suggest inviting their friends around because playing sport is a lot of fun, and hopefully they will soon find this out for themselves.
Go For Walks
Walking may not be the most vigorous of exercises, but it has numerous health benefits and is still a great way for children to stay in shape.
The key here is to make walking a habit, and something that they can actually derive pleasure from. This is easily achieved if you have a dog because they need walking every day, but otherwise it is good to go for regular walks as a family because then they cannot opt out if they don’t fancy going.
Go On Bike Rides
Every child loves riding a bike, and so another really easy way to get them to do more exercise is to buy them a bike and encourage them to go for bike rides.
This is obviously better if you live in the countryside because the scenery is more beautiful and there is not so much traffic to worry about. However once again you can of course go out as a family if you worried about their safety.
Buy Them Some Dumbbells
One final thing you can do is to buy them a set of dumbbells. This is more applicable for teenagers, and teenage boys in particular, because many of these young men like the idea of being strong and muscular because it will make them more attractive to the opposite sex.
This won’t necessarily get them out of the house, but it will encourage them to work out regularly at home because many of these dumbbell sets will include a wallchart that illustrates lots of different exercises that they can do.
This is how I first started developing an interest in fitness many years ago, and once I started getting stronger, I was motivated to continue working out as much as possible. Indeed it actually encouraged me to try other forms of exercise as well.
It is worth pointing out that this method can also work for teenage girls as well because in this day and age many teenagers are inspired to start working out more whenever they see stunning looking girls with fit and toned bodies on Instagram.
Final Thoughts
The point is that you can’t just sit back and let your child get fat and out of shape. You have to stop them stooping over their smartphones all day, and get them to do more exercise so that they can lead a fit and healthy life and don’t suffer any avoidable health problems later on in life.
Hopefully the five methods listed above will help you achieve this goal and encourage them to lead a more active lifestyle.
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