How To Teach Your Children About Health And Fitness
Kids learn good health habits as well as bad health habits from you, the parent. If you want your children to adopt the best health and fitness habits they can without stressing about body image, it has to start with you. Here are a few ways in which you can focus on the positive aspects of health and fitness and avoid the negative aspects.
Get a Family Fitness Membership
There are several fitness organizations dedicated to helping families get fit together. Family fitness memberships in these organizations have monthly dues, but some of them also have financial aid so that low income families can be as fit as higher income families. Classes offered range from group swim classes to aerobics to "mommy and me" dance classes. What kids learn from these classes is that it is fun to work out with friends and family, a lesson they can use all their lives.
Retrain Your Fitness Vocabulary
Children need to understand that their growing bodies may sometimes be a little pudgy, and then suddenly, they are not so round. Growth spurts will take care of the "baby fat" up until high school, but how you promote your fitness goals stays with the kids. Changing your personal descriptive fitness library helps immensely.
For example, instead of saying, "I am fat. I need to lose weight," say "I am unhealthy. I need to get fit." Focusing less on body image and more on health helps your kids see that your issues with fat are not about what you see in the mirror. It is more about your overall health and how excess pounds can make you sick.
Practice Moderation
Children learn a lot by watching you and other people around them. Moderation is key in fitness. You cannot overdo exercise, overdo eating, overdo food restrictions, refrain from eating healthy, or not eat at all. When your children witness any of these approaches to health and fitness, they think that you are doing what is right, and they will follow suit.
Learn Nutrition and Teach It
If you do not know enough about nutrition yet, attend a free or low-cost nutrition class with your family. Dietitians teach these classes and can show you and your kids how to eat properly and eat smarter. If there is only a class for adults, you can take the class and then come home and teach your children what you have learned about portion control and healthy, balanced eating.
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