Motivate Young Children to be Physically Active

Federation des kinesiologues du Quebec December 15, 2020 Health, Kids, physical activity

Those who have children will tell you; a child is always on the go! A child is full of wonderful energy that makes their parents green with envy. On the other hand, young children may be reluctant to do supervised physical activities if it is not part of their daily routine. So how do you get your little ones to do sports and exercise?

According to Marie-Hélène Bertrand, Kinesiologist, for preschool children, the secret is in play; play with your children and be interactive with them. For example, playing ball, dancing indoors, or going outside to play. It’s important to diversify activities and introduce children to a variety of actions, whether on snow, ice, water, or land, indoors or outdoors. Encourage children to climb, jump, run, crawl, and slide. All of this helps develop their range of physical abilities and cardiovascular fitness, including balance, flexibility, and strength.

A kinesiologist can help you find a better balance by identifying healthy lifestyle habits tailored to your children’s ages and abilities. The kinesiologist will also consider your preferences and those of your little ones, and will set realistic goals based on your family’s circumstances.

To understand how to get your child to be physically active, it is important to know that the development of motivation in children comes from a sense of competence, autonomy and social support.

A sense of competence is defined as the judgment we make about our ability to organize and execute the actions required to achieve a certain level of performance. In young children, a sense of competence can be developed by having them do exercises they are capable of. For example, don’t ask them to run a 5km race if they can’t finish it; they won’t feel competent and it won’t motivate them to run in the future. Instead, you can shorten the distance until they are able to complete it. Having them do exercises at their level will develop their sense of competence as well as their motivation.

To foster independence, schedule time for free play. Let children climb hills, fill buckets with sand and move them around to build a sandcastle, and so on. Developing basic movements and fundamental skills often sparks children’s creative ideas. Let your children surprise you! You can challenge them, but always keep it fun. While gentle guidance may be helpful for safety reasons, they should be allowed to choose what they want to do, who they want to do it with, and how they want to do it.

Social support is one of the most important pillars for helping your child develop their motivation. Just like adults, children find activities more fun when they’re done in teams or pairs. Whether with their peers or their parents, children love having fun in groups. It’s also important to note that children learn by example from their parents. The more you move and participate in physical activities, the more your children will be inclined to do the same.

Whether it’s to help them develop their motor skills or their fundamental abilities, developing your child’s motivation to be physically active will be beneficial…and for years to come.

Author

Federation des kinesiologues du Quebec

Kinesiology is defined as the use of muscle testing to identify imbalances in the body's structural energy. Kinesiologists undertake years of training to be able to help their clients maintain and regain physical fitness. Headed by the FKQ, kinesiologists write about rehabilitation, prevention and performance.