Keep Them Active? When They're Too Old for the Playground?

It seems like one of those studies that makes you say, "I could have told you that." The Journal of the American Medical Association published a study in July showing that younger children are more active than older children. No kidding.

The long-term study had children wear accelerometers (devices that measure movement) for a week at ages 9, 11, 12, and 15. Researchers measured activity from moderate walking to vigorous athletic activity. Not surprisingly, the nine-year-olds spent about three hours a day moving around, with boys moving an average of 18 minutes more a day than girls. Activity dropped drastically at around age 13.

By now, just about every parent knows the importance of regular exercise and an active lifestyle to overall health. But how do you keep your children active when they’re too old for recess or the playground, they don't play competitive sports, and they’re being lured by the siren call of video games and text messaging?

Barb Pullen, Fitness Coordinator at the Hillcrest YMCA, suggests finding an activity that the child naturally likes to do.

She notes that many older children and teens who become glued to their cell phones, iPods, or video games are taking cues from their parents.

“Kids mimic what parents do,” she says, so if they see their parents as sedentary, chances are, they’ll tend to be sedentary too. There’s the added complication that sometimes it’s easier for parents who just want a little break to let their kids retreat into their electronic devices. Pullen adds that it’s not hard to find activities for older kids, noting that “It can be anything—skateboarding is cool or biking or even kickball or wiffle ball.”

Lorri Slesh, Fitness, Wellness, and Recreation Director at the Mandel JCC of Cleveland, echoes the YMCA’s Pullen in noting that parents, too, are often inactive. Another contributing factor is that pre-teens and teens are no longer able to bike around town to meet friends spontaneously.

“This is an unfortunate result of intense safety concerns surrounding children being abducted, sexually abused, or offered drugs,” she says, “so kids are finding that socializing is only happening over instant messages, text messages, and Facebook. The families with kids uninterested in traditional sports are falling through the cracks.”

Slesh encourages families to look at traditional recreation activities such as ice skating, racquetball, roller skating, downhill or cross country skiing, sledding, miniature golf, or bowling. She adds that less traditional activities such as Karate, golfing, rock wall climbing, horseback riding, acting, and dance are also gaining in popularity. While some of these activities can be pricey, bike riding or hiking/walking in the Metro Parks and swimming are low or no-cost activities.

Both the JCC and YMCA provide family-friendly programming, so that children can take a class while parents work out in the fitness center or swim in the pool. But parents don’t need to spend money or go anywhere to keep their kids moving. Just taking the dog for a walk provides an extra daily dose of activity and has the added bonus of giving you and your child some uninterrupted time to talk.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Susan Petrone susanATtheinkcasino.com
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