How Active is Your Child?

The minimum recommendation in Britain for children’s fitness is that they should exercise vigorously (get out of breath) for at least 15 minutes, 3 to 5 times a week. In the USA the America Academy of Pediatrics and America College of Sports Medicine both recommend that children should engage in 20 to 30 minutes of vigorous exercise each day. So how active is your child? Does your child:

·         Sit in front of the TV or computer screen for hours on end?

·         Get out of breath walking up stairs?

·         Prefer to have a lift in the car rather than walk short distances?

·         Live on a high-fat diet?

·         Seem to be putting on excess weight?

·         Lack motivation to exercise regularly?

·         Get bored easily?

If this is what your child is like then you have a problem, because your child is on a fast track to becoming an unhealthy adult. According to research conducted by the institute for aerobics Research in Dallas, USA, ‘at least 30 to 35 per cent of school-age are at risk for heart or circulatory disease and for premature death as adults’. Dr Kenneth Cooper, of the Aerobics Institute, advises: ‘Starting a lifetime aerobic exercise programme now will greatly reduce your child’s risk of dying from sedentary living as an adult.’

    Since walking is the easiest way for children to exercise aerobically, then should get your children active as soon as possible – and get them walking.