AD| Encouraging children to exercise
When I was growing up, exercise was the last thing on my mind. I mean, in school, I’d take part in PE, cross country and I was on the hockey team for a while too, but outside of school, the thought of doing any type of exercise just never crossed my mind.
When I left college and started full time work, it soon became apparent to me that sitting at a desk five days a week and eating sandwiches for lunch every day wasn’t doing my waistline any favours!
Fast forward a few years and after giving birth to twins, I knew I needed to take action.
I started Slimfast and managed to loose an incredible two stone. On top of this I started to run. At first it was just once around the block, then twice, then three times and before I knew it, I was regularly running 10k a few times a week.
Fast forward a few more years and I can proudly say that I’ve completed two half marathons and even ran the London Marathon earlier this year.
Fitness and healthy eating is now really important to me. Even more so because I’m a mum. I want to lead by example so if my children see me running, going to the gym and eating well, hopefully they’ll follow in my footsteps.
There are however, plenty of things that we can all do to encourage our children to exercise.
For example, when I get back home from a run, whether that be 5k or 10k, I’ll ask my children if they want to join me for a quick run around the block.
Quite often the answer is yes! They love the fresh air and feeling ‘grown up’ like their mummy.
At seven years old, they’re also all about their technology. That’s why they’ve been looking at running watches. Fitbit for kids are a great way to encourage children to get active. They also help to make exercise fun, plus it means that my girls can be just like their mummy with their ‘exercise watches’.
Do you encourage your children to exercise? Let me know how in the comments below.
