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Get your kids moving more

Do you want to encourage your children to exercise more? This is best achieved if you exercise enough yourself.

Research
It has been known for some time that there is a correlation between how much parents and their children exercise. A new discovery is that when parents start to exercise more, so do their children. 83 families with children between the ages of 7 and 14 participated in the study. They were encouraged to take an extra 2,000 steps every day.

Succeed or fail?
When the mother took the extra 2,000 steps, her child even took an extra 2,117 steps. If the mother did not reach the goal, her child would have taken an average of 1,175 extra steps. A very positive outcome is that children who were the least active at the start of the program immediately take more extra steps. A similar pattern was discovered in fathers. So set a good example for your children!

Tips

  • Bring your children to school by bike or on foot, instead of by car.
  • Spend the weekend doing fun things with the family that involve plenty of exercise, such as mountain biking or hiking in the woods.
  • Play a game on the Wii together. Good for a lot of fun, but also for the movement.
  • Take the elevator instead of the stairs.
  • Play a game of badminton or frisbee together.