September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month! Did you know that one in three children in the United States is overweight or obese? Unfortunately, this puts kids at risk for type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease as well as other issues that typically don’t occur until adulthood. Thankfully obesity, as well as the diseases mentioned above, can be prevented. In addition to healthy eating, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) recommends that children get 60 minutes per day of moderate exercise.
The majority of kids’ exercise should be aerobic, meaning to get their heart rate up to improve their cardiovascular system. This includes things like walking and running. At least three days a week should also include muscle strengthening exercises such as gymnastics or push ups, and three days a week should include bone-strengthening exercises like jumping rope and running – anything that gets their feet off the ground.
If you’re an active family already, you may feel that getting 60 minutes a day of exercise is easy, but for families where this isn’t a habit, this number may feel overwhelming. Where do you even start? We at Happy Backyards™ want to give you some tips for keeping your kids fit and active in your own backyard:
– Be positive and encouraging. Being negative about exercise yourself will only pass down to your children and give them a negative attitude as well. In order to combat that, make exercise seem not like exercise! Join them in the backyard to do things like hula hooping, dancing, jumping rope, throwing balls or flying kites.
– Provide play equipment. Give kids the ability to exercise without them needing to be involved in organized sports or even in organized games. A playset or a trampoline in your backyard provides them with an easy way to exercise and get their heart rate up without them even noticing they’re exercising. Monkey bars strengthen muscles, pumping their legs on the swings can increase their heart rate and even something as simple as climbing a ladder can increase their muscle tone and flexibility.
– Make it fun to create life-long habits. Providing equipment like a basketball goal can be a great thing to get the entire family involved in exercise. An after-dinner game of basketball together will not only give immediate exercise benefits but will begin to build the foundation for habits that can last a lifetime for your kids.
So what are you waiting on? Get moving! And stop by Happy Backyards™ in Franklin to learn more about our playsets, basketball hoops and trampolines and how they can help your kids!
Happy Backyards™ sells and installs only the safest and highest quality residential playground equipment, basketball goals, and trampolines for your own home. We are a local company and have been doing it for 15 years with a focus on quality products, quality service, and competitive low pricing.