PitterPatterFeet

You can prevent childhood obesity by getting your child to have fun while moving. You can start with the three (3) easy to do activities here. Of course you know it is great to create healthy habits when children are young. But the question is how and what can I do as a parent or caregiver to make movement fun and get my child to exercise and move. One thing that will make it easier is if we start with the right mind set. Movement is something that we do naturally every day, we don’t associate effort with it. On the other hand exercise brings to mind images of sweat, exertion and hard work. So first we are going to put ourselves into the right frame of mind.

What comes up for you when you hear the word “exercise”. Just hearing the word exercise brings up images of sweat, lots of effort and hard work. Who wants to do that? Not me even and I do it practically every day. It’s kind of hard to get motivated and be in a positive mindset when you feel you are about to do something that’s not fun and also hard. But one of the reasons I can do it practically every day is because it’s fun and enjoyable. It doesn’t feel like work. You want to have the same type of experience with your child. You don’t want them to be conscious of all of the effort that is going into an activity. You want them to be so engaged and having so much fun that they don’t even notice the effort.

Listed below are six (6) ways that you can get your preschooler moving while having fun. Remember in addition to burning calories, movement also develops the brain. It will be easy I promise and you and your child will want to do it again and again. To keep it fun and interesting remember to add variety and variations so that neither  you or your child are bored.

MAKE IT A GAME

Having a problem getting your preschooler to pick up after themselves? Why not shoot a game of hoops with the dirty laundry or play soccer with the dirty launder by kicking it into a laundry basket turned on its side. Children love kicking especially little boys, but don’t leave the girls out of this one. Because laundry isn’t a ball it will not move once it’s kicked which means they will have to keep kicking it until it’s in the basket. Built in reps how cool is that. Put the laundry on a broom stick or similar object and have the laundry fly into the laundry basket. Leap over the laundry before putting it into the basket. You get the idea, make it interesting and fun for them.

DO IT IN SMALL CHUNKS OF TIME

You don’t have to schedule a whole lot of time for these activities, starting in ten (10) minute increments is fine. Have several activities planned out in this amount of time. These activities can be themed based like “doing the laundry” or just random, like let’s see how long we can stand on one leg. If you run out of ideas, just explain to your preschooler that you have to think of different ways to move your body and ask can they help.

NOTICE WHAT YOUR CHILD IS INTERESTED IN ALREADY

This can work in one of two ways if your child loves dancing or particular sports have them show you what they do in that sport and pretend to do that sport, you can have the actual equipment or not. In fact having them to pretend they have the props is even better because they are learning to use their imagination. The other way is to take an activity that is not normally associated with movement like cooking. You could pretend to make a healthy chicken and vegetable soup from scratch. Make sure you run and catch the chicken, you walk or jog to the farm, you feed the cow because you are going to need some milk to go with your soup and you also have to milk the cow. Ask them questions of what you should do next to engage them more, build esteem, pride and creativity and imagination.

As you can see getting your child moving is more than just Jumping Jacks and Push Ups and Sit Ups. You can burn calories right around the house and make it fun. Incorporate movement into your daily activities. Things like having a 10 minute movement or dance break where you just turn on the music and dance around the house. Cleaning your house to music and dancing a little in between turns a chore into a choice.

For more information on keeping your child healthy get your free report at http://www.healthykidsweightloss.com . Also please feel free to share your comments and experiences with us. We’d love to hear from you. Until I do hear from you,  have a blast moving and getting fit.

Getting babies to dance is very simple. Just put the music on and let them have a blast. Or as my friends across the pond say ” have at it!” But something more is going on than just moving and shaking.  Brain architecture is being created, which means this little baby is building intelligence and a better brain. They are also building the foundation for three essential elements for a happy and productive life.

By moving to music babies are expressing themselves and developing spatial awareness and learning about themselves and their environment. They are learning about the world and how they fit in it and what to expect from it. They are also having a great time.

Secondly they are  having a great time while learning is very important because fun makes the learning experience more pleasurable it is likely to be repeated. Although babies are naturally curious anyway, learning and experiencing the sensations in their bodies encourages them to want to learn more and be confident about learning. So dance away with your child. You will instill within them a love of movement and exercise which can lead to creating healthy habits for the future.

The third thing, but not certainly the last, is that your baby will develop a positive attitude about trying and exploring new things. They will develop an “I can do it ” attitude. Their confidence will grow and become stronger.

So you can shake and shimmie with your baby, clap hands, pat your knees, turn around, hands up and down and legs to for that matter. You can play patty cake, head shoulders knees and toes and the hokey pokey all to music and do them again and again and again. It is not complicated and you can make it up on the spot . Your child will love it and suck up the attention they are getting. It’s also a great method for bonding . So remember don’t make it complicated, just move and have fun.

If you’d like more information on raising a healthy child, get a free ebook on it from http://www.healthykidsweightloss.com

Getting your child to sleep whether they are infants, toddlers or preschool aged can be really challenging. It’s enough to make you want to google “how do I send a child back”. And although you wouldn’t do it even though you feel like that and really wish that there was a way to do that and then pick them up after you’ve both had a good night sleep, we all know that’s just wistful thinking. I ‘d like to share with 3 things that will help you with this dilemna. Read more »