So you’re rocking the whole #StayHome thing. You’re an expert at video conferencing now, including all the cool backgrounds, and some days you even put on normal pants. You’re #Homeschooling like a boss, shifting effortlessly from 2nd-grade math to 6th-grade social studies.
When it comes to self-care, you may or may not have dyed or cut your own hair yet, but you definitely know one thing – with the fridge almost always in view and stress levels running high, you have to find a way to keep yourself and your family physically active.
You’re the teacher, you’re the lunch lady (or gentleman!), and you’re the PE coach too.
Two things are clear:
- most kids need to be more physically active than they are
- fixing this is really hard.
Read on for 10 Dos and Don’ts of stay-home fitness for kids.
DO:
1. Respect your kids’ individual personalities, temperaments, and age/developmental levels. This goes for all of parenting, and it’s super hard especially with more than one child. But it’s a must. Some kids are more internally driven to be physically active than others. If you have one who isn’t, you will have to approach home exercise differently. Keep reading.
2. Be a role model. You’ve heard it before, and that’s because it’s true. Actions speak louder than words, every time. When kids see you prioritize physical activity, they are much more likely to do the same in the long run.
3. Be flexible – and not just by stretching at the end of a workout. Be flexible about how fitness fits into your day. Research tells us that multiple shorter bursts of physical activity can be just as effective as one long session. It’s cumulative, and it’s about integrating movement and exercise into the day. Speaking of which…
4. Incorporate physical activity into school and learning. This is a practice that classroom teachers would be wise to adopt (somewhere, over the rainbow, our kids will return to school), and the best ones already do.
· Have your kids sit on a yoga ball instead of a regular chair. Rule: move around as much as you want, as long as your butt stays on the ball.
· Do jumping jacks between word problems
· Wall-sit for as long as it takes to name all the planets in our solar system (hey, no fair, now there are 8 instead of 9 like when we were kids).
· Make it fun and silly and take advantage of the freer timeline of homeschooling. Learning doesn’t have to be rigid and definitely doesn’t have to happen sitting still. Kinesthetic learning is a thing – a real and powerful thing. Use it to your advantage!
5. Link physical activity to preferred activities…yes, I’m talking about screens. We all know it’s true – kids love screens and now more than ever before, screens are dominating their days. Instead of fighting it all the time like we often feel we should, tie it to movement.
· Put a small trampoline in front of the tv.
· Move those yoga balls from the table to the tv room – couch is off-limits.
· Try Exergaming! This trend – video games intended to make you sweat – is perfect for increasing kids’ fitness at home.
6. Establish friendly competition in the family. Track (wearables are great for this!) and during Sunday dinner, compare average minutes of physical activity or average steps per day – the winner gets to pick the movie for movie night, plus bragging rights of course. Important hint: there is no loser; see the DON’Ts section for more on this.
· An alternative here is to set up a self-competition for each family member. The one who improved his/her own stats from the previous week “wins.”
DON’T
1. Don’t ever make physical activity feel like a punishment. The key word here is feel. It doesn’t have to be explicit (and obviously should never be) for it to be perceived by your child this way. And perception is reality. If participation in exercise feels like punishment, you’ve not only likely lost the battle, you may have lost the war. Keep in mind that the ultimate goal is for your children to incorporate fitness into their lives long-term. The last thing you want is for them to end up associating exercise with feeling less-than.
· So how does comparison fit in here? What about the competition suggested in the DO section? Comparison is always a double-edged sword. What’s crucial is how you do and say it. Keep it positive. And if this dynamic doesn’t work in your family, just don’t go there.
2. Don’t expect that the same things that motivate you for physical fitness will motivate your kids – they probably won’t.
3. Don’t lose sight of what is age-appropriate for your kids. Suggesting a session on the stationary bike or elliptical machine while they watch a show on Netflix is probably fine for a 12 year old. For a 6 year old, this probably won’t work very well.
4. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Physical fitness is important, no question. As parents we feel constant pressure to do it all and do it all perfectly. If this is your expectation and goal, you’re in for a rough ride. Do your best, and give yourself some grace. Some days and some hours will go better than others. Your main job as a parent is to keep your kids safe and happy. This is as much about hugs and fun as it is about school work and physical fitness. DON’T forget that!
Stay safe, stay healthy, stay sane, and stay moving. You’ve got this, coach!