Promoting Physical Activity in Children and Teenagers

Chapter Contents

Section 12.1—Motivating Children and Teenagers to Be Active ........................................ 116

Section 12.2—Fitness for Kids Who Don’t Like Sports ............. 120 Section 12.3—Tips on Promoting Physical

Fitness for Girls .................................................. 124

Fitness and Exercise Sourcebook, Fourth Edition

Section 12.1

Motivating Children and Teenagers to Be Active

KidsHealth, one of the largest resources online for medically reviewed health information written for parents, kids, and teens. For more articles like this one, visit www.KidsHealth.org, or www.TeensHealth.org.

Keeping Kids Active

Anyone who’s seen kids on a playground knows that most are natu- rally physically active and love to move around. But what might not

be apparent is that climbing to the top of a slide or swinging from the monkey bars can help lead kids to a lifetime of being active. As they get older, it can be a challenge for kids to get enough daily activity. Reasons include increasing demands of school, a feeling among some kids that they aren’t good at sports, a lack of active role models, and busy working families.

And even if kids have the time and the desire to be active, parents may not feel comfortable letting them freely roam the neighborhood as kids once did. So their opportunities might be limited.

Despite these barriers, parents can instill a love of activity and help kids fit it into their everyday routines. Doing so can establish healthy patterns that will last into adulthood.

Watch for Changing Interests

As time passes, your child may lose interest in old favorites, such as soccer. The trick is to help your child continue to be active, even if league play falls by the wayside. Staying active and keeping fit are the goals, so help find a replacement activity or activities that your child enjoys.

Promoting Physical Activity in Children and Teenagers

Benefits of Being Active

When kids are active, their bodies can do the things they want and need them to do. Why? Because regular exercise provides these benefits:

•฀ Strong฀muscles฀and฀bones •฀ Weight฀control •฀ Decreased฀risk฀of฀developing฀type฀2฀diabetes •฀ Better฀sleep •฀ A฀better฀outlook฀on฀life

Healthy, physically active kids also are more likely to be academi- cally motivated, alert, and successful. And physical competence builds self-esteem at every age.

What Motivates Kids?

So there’s a lot to gain from regular physical activity, but how do you encourage kids to do it? The three keys are:

1. choosing the right activities for a child’s age (if you don’t, the child may be bored or frustrated);

2. giving kids plenty of opportunity to be active (kids need parents to make activity easy by providing equipment and taking them to playgrounds and other active spots);

3. keeping the focus on fun (kids won’t do something they don’t enjoy).

When kids enjoy an activity, they want to do more of it. Practicing

a skill—whether it’s swimming or riding a tricycle—improves their abilities and helps them feel accomplished, especially when the effort is noticed and praised. These good feelings often make kids want to continue the activity and even try others.

Age-Appropriate Activities

The best way for kids to get physical activity is by incorporating physical activity into their daily routine. Toddlers to teens need at least 60 minutes on most (preferably all) days. This can include free play at home, active time at school, and participation in classes or organized sports.

Fitness and Exercise Sourcebook, Fourth Edition

Here’s Some Age-Based Advice

Preschoolers: Preschoolers need play and exercise that helps them continue to develop important motor skills—kicking or throwing a ball, playing tag or follow the leader, hopping on one foot, riding a bike, freeze dancing, or running obstacle courses.

Although some sports leagues may be open to kids as young as four, organized and team sports are not recommended until they’re a little older. Preschoolers can’t understand complex rules and often lack the attention span, skills, and coordination needed to play sports. Instead of learning to play a sport, they should work on fundamental skills.

School-age: With school-age kids spending more time on sedentary pursuits like watching TV and playing computer games, the challenge for parents is to help them find physical activities they enjoy and feel successful doing. These can range from traditional sports like baseball and basketball to Scouting, biking, camping, hiking, and other outdoor pursuits.

As kids learn basic skills and simple rules in the early school-age years, there might only be a few athletic standouts. As kids get older, differences in ability and personality become more apparent. Com- mitment and interest level often go along with ability, which is why it’s important to find an activity that’s right for your child. Schedules start getting busy during these years, but don’t forget to set aside some time for free play.

Teenagers: Teens have many choices when it comes to being active—from school sports to after-school interests, such as yoga or skateboarding. It’s important to remember that physical activity must

be planned and often has to be sandwiched between various respon- sibilities and commitments. Do what you can to make it easy for your teen to exercise by providing transportation and the necessary gear or equipment (including workout clothes). In some cases, the right clothes and shoes might help

a shy teen feel comfortable biking or going to the gym.

Kids’ Fitness Personalities

In addition to a child’s age, it’s important to consider his or her fitness personality. Personality traits, genetics, and athletic ability combine to influence kids’ attitudes toward participation in sports and other physical activities, particularly as they get older.

Which of these three types best describes your child?

Promoting Physical Activity in Children and Teenagers

1. The nonathlete: This child may lack athletic ability, interest in physical activity, or both.

2. The casual athlete: This child is interested in being active

but isn’t a star player and is at risk of getting discouraged in a competitive athletic environment.

3. The athlete: This child has athletic ability, is committed to a sport or activity, and is likely to ramp up practice time and in- tensity of competition.

If you understand the concepts of temperament and fitness types, you’ll be better able to help your kids find the right activities and get enough exercise—and find enjoyment in physical activity. Some kids want to pursue excellence in a sport, while others may be perfectly happy and fit as casual participants.

The athlete, for instance, will want to be on the basketball team, while the casual athlete may just enjoy shooting hoops in the playground or on the driveway. The nonathlete is likely to need a parent’s help and encouragement to get and stay physically active. That’s why it’s important to encourage kids to remain active even through they aren’t top performers.

Whatever their fitness personality, all kids can be physically fit.

A parent’s positive attitude will help a child who’s reluctant to exercise. Be active yourself and support your kids’ interests. If you start this early enough, they’ll come to regard activity as a normal—and fun— part of your family’s everyday routine.

Fitness and Exercise Sourcebook, Fourth Edition

Section 12.2

Fitness for Kids Who Don’t Like Sports

“Fitness for Kids Who Don’t Like Sports,” May 2009, reprinted with permission from www.kidshealth.org. Copyright © 2009 The Nemours Foundation. This information was provided by KidsHealth, one of the largest resources online for medically reviewed health information written for parents, kids, and teens. For more articles like this one, visit www.KidsHealth.org, or www.TeensHealth.org.

Team sports can boost kids’ self-esteem, coordination, and general fitness and help them learn how to work with other kids and adults. But some kids aren’t natural athletes and they may tell you—di- rectly or indirectly—that they just don’t like sports. What then?

Why Some Kids Don’t Like Teams

Not every child has to join a team, and with enough other activities, kids can be fit without them. But try to find out why your child isn’t interested. You might be able to help address deeper concerns or steer your child toward something else.

Tell your child that you’d like to work on a solution together. This might mean making changes and sticking with the team sport or find- ing a new activity to try.

Here are some reasons why sports might be a turnoff for kids:

Still Developing Basic Skills

Though many sports programs are available for preschoolers, it’s not until about age six or seven that most kids have the physical skills, the attention span, and the ability to grasp the rules needed to play organized sports.

Kids who haven’t had much practice in a specific sport might need time to reliably perform necessary skills such as kicking a soccer ball on the run or hitting a baseball thrown from the pitcher’s mound. Try- ing and failing, especially in a game situation, might frustrate them or make them nervous.

Promoting Physical Activity in Children and Teenagers

What you can do: Practice with your child at home. Whether it’s shooting baskets, playing catch, or going for a jog together, you’ll give your child an opportunity to build skills and fitness in a safe environment. Your child can try—and, possibly, fail—new things without the self-consciousness of being around peers. And you’re also getting a good dose of quality together time.

Coach or League Is Too Competitive

A kid who’s already a reluctant athlete might feel extra nervous when the coach barks out orders or the league focuses heavily on winning.

What you can do: Investigate sports programs before signing your child up for one. Talk with coaches and other parents about the philoso- phy. Some athletic associations, like the YMCA, have noncompetitive leagues. In some programs, they don’t even keep score.

As kids get older, they can handle more competitive aspects such as keeping score and keeping track of wins and losses for the season. Some kids may be motivated by competitive play, but most aren’t ready for the increased pressure until they’re 11 or 12 years old. Remember that even in more competitive leagues, the atmosphere should remain positive and supportive for all the participants.

Stage Fright

Kids who aren’t natural athletes or are a little shy might be uncomfortable with the pressure of being on a team. More self-conscious kids also might worry about letting their parents, coaches, or teammates down. This is especially true if a child is still working on basic skills and if the league is very competitive.

What you can do: Keep your expectations realistic—most kids don’t become Olympic medalists or get sports scholarships. Let your child know the goal is to be fit and have fun. If the coach or league doesn’t agree, it’s probably time to look for something new.

Still Shopping for a Sport

Some kids haven’t found the right sport. Maybe a child who doesn’t have the hand-eye coordination for baseball has the drive and the build to be a swimmer, a runner, or a cyclist. The idea of an individual sport also can be more appealing to some kids who like to go it alone.

Fitness and Exercise Sourcebook, Fourth Edition

What you can do: Be open to your child’s interests in other sports or activities. That can be tough if, for instance, you just loved basketball and wanted to continue the legacy. But by exploring other options, you give your child a chance to get invested in something he or she truly enjoys.

Other Barriers

Different kids mature at different rates, so expect a wide range of heights, weights, and athletic abilities among kids of the same age group. A child who’s much bigger or smaller than other kids of the same age—or less coordinated or not as strong—may feel self-conscious and uncomfortable competing with them.

Kids also might be afraid of getting injured or worried that they can’t keep up. Kids who are overweight might be reluctant to participate in a sport, for example, while a child with asthma might feel more comfortable with sports that require short outputs of energy, like baseball, football, gymnastics, golf, and shorter track and field events.

What you can do: Give some honest thought to your child’s strengths, abilities, and temperament and find an activity that might

be a good match. Some kids are afraid of the ball, so they don’t like softball or volleyball but may enjoy an activity like running. If your child is overweight, he or she might lack the endurance to run, but might enjoy a sport like swimming. A child who’s too small for the basketball team may enjoy gymnastics or wrestling.

Remember that some kids will prefer sports that focus on individual performance rather than teamwork. The goal is to prevent your child from feeling frustrated, wanting to quit, and being turned off from sports and physical activity altogether.

Try to address your child’s concerns. By being understanding and providing a supportive environment, you’ll help foster success in whatever activity your child chooses.

Smart Start

Before beginning any sport or fitness program, it’s a good idea for your child to have a physical examination from the doctor. Kids with undiagnosed medical conditions, vision or hearing problems, or other disorders may have difficulty participating in certain activities.

Promoting Physical Activity in Children and Teenagers

Fitness Outside of Team Sports

Even kids who once said they hated sports might learn to like team sports as their skills improve or they find the right sport or a league. But even if team sports never thrill your child, there’s plenty a kid can do to get the recommended 60 minutes or more of physical activity each day.

Free play can be very important for kids who don’t play a team sport. What’s free play? It’s the activity kids get when they’re left to their own devices, like shooting hoops, riding bikes, playing whiffleball, playing tag, jumping rope, or dancing.

Kids might also enjoy individual sports or other organized activities that can boost fitness, such as:

•฀ swimming;฀ •฀ horseback฀riding; •฀ dance฀classes;฀

•฀ inline฀skating; •฀ cycling;฀

•฀ cheerleading; •฀ skateboarding;฀

•฀ fencing;฀ •฀ gymnastics; •฀ martial฀arts;฀

•฀ yoga฀and฀other฀fitness฀classes; •฀ ultimate฀Frisbee;฀

•฀ running.

Supporting Your Kid’s Choices

Even if the going’s tough, work with your child to find something active that he or she likes. Try to remain open-minded. Maybe your child is interested in an activity that is not offered at school. If your daughter wants to try flag football or ice hockey, for example, help her find a local league or talk to school officials about starting up a new team.

You’ll need to be patient if your child has difficulty choosing and sticking to an activity. It often takes several tries before kids find one that feels like the right fit. But when something clicks, you’ll be glad you invested the time and effort. For your child, it’s one big step toward developing active habits that can last a lifetime.

Fitness and Exercise Sourcebook, Fourth Edition

Section 12.3

Tips on Promoting Physical Fitness for Girls

This section excerpted from “Tips on Getting Girls Active,” © 2008 Women’s Sports Foundation. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. The complete text of this document including references is available at www .womenssportsfoundation.org.

You’ve heard many of the reasons girls should be active. We know that if a girl does not participate in sports by the age of 10, there is only

a 10% likelihood she will be participating at age 25. Research suggests that physical activity is an effective tool for reducing the symptoms of stress and depression among girls. Sports help girls develop leader- ship and teamwork skills. Girls who participate in sports have higher self-esteem and pride in themselves.

So how do you get the girls in your life to get on the path to being physically active and reaping all of these rewards? These tips will give you all the information you need to introduce physical activity to a girl and make a critical difference in her life.

Change Attitudes about Physical Fitness

At an early age, young women are programmed to shy away from sports and activity because they are afraid of being perceived as unfeminine or are afraid of failure or being teased. Here are some tips on how to turn those attitudes around:

“I’m not an athlete.” Many inactive girls think that the world of physical activity is black and white: you are either a jock or not. Some girls believe that unless you are going to go all out or if you’re just not a “natural,” there is no use in being active. The label of jock can be perceived as unfeminine or possibly just a clique that they don’t want to belong to. Girls need to be reminded that it’s ok to work up a sweat, get your heart pumping, and challenge your body.

What you can do: Encourage her. Tell her that you don’t have to be

a hard-core athlete to get up and move (and follow this advice yourself!). There doesn’t have to be competition involved to be physically active.

Promoting Physical Activity in Children and Teenagers

Also, reinforce that no one is ever born an athlete. Even champions had to start at the beginning and learn how to play their sports.

“I’m afraid of getting teased.” This is such a vulnerable age, and girls are very sensitive to peer-group influence. “Fitting in” becomes a pri- mary goal so girls don’t want to try anything new that steps outside of the world they already know and are comfortable in. This is especially true of girls’ participation in sports or even just their school’s PE program. Girls fear that stepping into a game might make them a target of ridicule.

What you can do: Understand and identify with her fears and talk to her about them. Girls want to fit in and be accepted. Sports can be all about belonging—being part of the group—with team names, uni- forms, and cheers. Most of us remember how nervous we were about our junior high and high school PE [physical education] classes. Many of us also have funny stories to tell about embarrassing things that did happen and how we got over them. Ask her what her worst fear is. Maybe she’s nervous about wearing the gym uniform or having to climb ropes in front of her classmates. One she identifies the worst- case scenario, you can discuss how you would deal with this and take away some of her fears. Or share something that happened to you and let her know it really wasn’t a big deal.

“I don’t know anything about sports.” A girl may worry that her lack of knowledge about sports or physical fitness will make her look dumb when she attempts to play. She also may not know what sports are available to girls. Even if she does know, she might not feel confident or capable enough to be proactive and sign up on her own.

What you can do: Teach her the skills to be successful. Start to watch different sports together so she can understand the rules and how different games are played. Learn the sports lingo. Go to a local girls’ sporting match so she can see that girls just like her can master the skills needed to play the game. Experiment with different sports until she finds one that comes easily for her. If she has good hand-eye coordination, maybe softball or tennis is her game. In trying different sports, she may be surprised by how great she is at a sport she never thought she could master. You also don’t want to rule out sports just because she may not be the perfect physical match for it. For example, she could be on the shorter side and end up loving basketball.

For other activity suggestions, visit the GoGirlGo! Sports Match- maker (at www.gogirlgo.com). There’s an interactive survey you can do together or she can do on her own that allows her to express her interests and preferences and gives suggestions for sport and activities that meet her profile.

Fitness and Exercise Sourcebook, Fourth Edition

Once she has chosen a few activities she’s interested in, call the office of that sport’s national governing body (for example: USA Bas- ketball) to have them give you local program contact information. Many girls’ organizations have sports and physical activities—the YWCA [Young Women’s Christian Association], PAL [Police Athletic League], community recreation centers, local park and recreation department, the Girl Scouts, etc. Ask the PE teacher or counselor at school. Look in the local papers, check the Internet at the library, or look in the yellow pages of your phone book for specific activities. Check out local hospitals and rehabilitation centers for programs for disabled girls. These programs are usually affordable and some even offer scholarships for some girls.

As you investigate local programs together, consider these general tips in what you should look for in an activity program:

•฀ Small group environment. A group with 15–20 girls and two

adult leaders is ideal for girls to learn together and develop a strong sense of belonging. Look for programs that have at least one adult leader for every 10 girls to ensure each girl will get individual attention.

•฀ Safe and nurturing all-girl environments. Co-ed physical activity environments are problematic for inactive girls because they contain opposite sex and same sex teasing about the skill level and body of inactive girls and other pressures character- istic of co-ed group dynamics. When girls are concentrating on what boys think, a cultural requirement for teen girls, they don’t take care of themselves.

•฀ Fun and supportive place. Does it look like fun? Are the girls all participating? Is it a caring, supportive and positive environment? Are girls allowed to express themselves, participate in decision-making, and develop relationships with other girls? The program shouldn’t be about winning and losing. Beginners need

a friendly social environment where they will learn skills together in a fun way.

Keep It Fun!

Debby Burgard runs a nonprofit organization called The Body Posi- tive based in Berkeley, California, that works to help teens and children with body image issues. She believes that fears about embarrassment (that we discussed earlier) can get in the way of embracing being ac-

Promoting Physical Activity in Children and Teenagers

tive. “Most people have negative experiences in junior high PE class or at their gyms that get in the way of them believing they can have fun exercising,” Burgard said.

The best way to combat this is to move in ways your body and personality type enjoy. You may envision yourself as a hard-core athlete, but have a mellow personality more suited to yoga. Overall, it’s important to try to make every encounter that a girl has with activity

a positive one. Here are some easy tips on keeping it fun:

1. Take her to girls’ and women’s sports events. Introduce her to a heroine! At the very least, she will see that girls who engage in sports and physical activity are applauded and ad- mired. Look in the local papers, high school websites, and community center bulletin boards.

2. Take advantage of the seasons. Each season try a weather-

appropriate sport. For example, tackle snowboarding, snow- shoeing, or skiing in the winter; volleyball and swimming in the summer; softball and track in the spring; and soccer, cross- country, or basketball in the fall. This will also make certain sports feel routine and natural so that when next year rolls around, the girl equates the fall as soccer season and is antici- pating signing up for a league.

3. Rate the neighborhood! Pick a different walking route each time. What’s the prettiest house, the best mailbox, the prettiest flowers? Include bouts of power walking (big steps, pumping your arms, going as fast as you can), go from phone pole to phone pole or hydrant to hydrant. And then slow down to laugh, rest, and recover.

4. Vary the environment. Instead of running around a track

or playing soccer on a soccer field, take your activities to the beach or a local park. Or take in a local arts festival and take a couple laps around it, checking out the booths and talent. Go to

a different park every week. Discover the public walking trails. Hike and explore.

5. Get the scoop on women athletes. There are plenty of biographies and films on women sports heroes like Billie Jean King, Mia Hamm, and the Williams sisters. Check out the local bookstore or library and read these books together. Then discuss the obstacles these women had to overcome and how they did it. These inspirational stories will also show

Fitness and Exercise Sourcebook, Fourth Edition

girls that even the most talented athletes had to start some- where and learn from the bottom up. View a list of girls’ sports books (www .womenssportsfoundation.org/cgi-bin/iowa/issues/ family/article.html?record=945) or a list of sports movies for girls (www.womenssportsfoundation.org/cgi-bin/iowa/issues/ family/article.html?record=989).

6. Make a sports scrapbook. Collect pictures of females do-

ing physical activities. Look for teen and women’s magazines. Make sure she is signed up to be a GoGirlGo! Club member so she gets SportsTalk (it’s free!—just request your girl acti- vation kit from www.wsfecomm.com/shop/wsfproductlist.aspx ?CategoryID=15&selection=7).

7. Give gifts of sports equipment and apparel. Look for cool stuff in teen magazines and give her the gift with a copy of the magazine page. Gifts of sports equipment can tell her that you think she can.

8. Try an activity that you aren’t equipped for. Take ad-

vantage of local sports equipment rental outfits to help equip you for trying a new sport. Rent a canoe, skis, snowboards, or bicycles and discover a sport you never tried before.

9. Mandatory daily physical education. There is no better

guarantee that a girl will be physically active every day than a mandatory daily physical education requirement in her school. School curriculum can be affected by the action of local school boards. Contact your school board and get others to do the same.

Buddy Up: The Importance of Teamwork

The most important thing you can do to inspire a girl is to make everything a team effort. A girl is more likely to be active if her parent, guardian, or other key adult in her life is active. Let her see you working out, sweating, and making physical activity part of your life. Be a real-life hero as she sees you jogging that extra lap, attempting that three-point shot, striking that yoga pose. There are a number of ways you can emphasize that you are in this together:

1. Keep activity logs. This is a great way to track progress. Have fun picking out a cool diary or journal and then keep track of your physical activity experiences: What you did, for how long, and how intense it was. Also record your feelings

Promoting Physical Activity in Children and Teenagers

about what you liked and didn’t like about the experience. This will help to plan and schedule the next activity and help you get to know one another.

2. Do an activity bracelet. Charm bracelets, whether they are the traditional ones with charms or the new “Italian” bracelets with tiles, are hot right now. Start an activity bracelet that in- cludes balls and activity charms that commemorate the activities you tried and did together.

3. Take a class together. Look for a class that interests both

of you, like yoga, Pilates, or tae kwon do. You can also do it at home by renting or buying a video.

4. Show her your moves. Teach her to enjoy the activities that you enjoy now or did as a child. Recruit some rope turners and try double-dutch. Or show her your old dance moves to some retro music. She’ll admire you for having the guts to try something you haven’t enjoyed in years.

Chapter 13

Physical Fitness and Adults

Chapter Contents

Section 13.1—Fitness Guidelines for Adults ............................. 132 Section 13.2—Daily Exercise Dramatically

Lowers Men’s Death Rates ................................. 138 Section 13.3—Women, Physical Fitness,

and Heart Health ................................................ 141 Section 13.4—Physical Activity for Pregnant

and Postpartum Women ...................................... 144 Section 13.5—Research Shows Overweight Women

Improve Quality of Life through Exercise ......... 146 Section 13.6—Statistics and Research on

Women and Physical Activity ............................. 149

Promoting Physical Activity in Children and Teenagers