Physical Activity for Children, Teens, & the Whole Family
Physical activity is an important part of a healthy lifestyle and can set you and your family up for lifelong health and disease prevention. When we are healthy, we’re more able to achieve our goals and have a higher quality of life.
Let’s explore the different types of movement and why it is important for your family.
10 Ways to Get Your Family Moving
Research shows only 20 percent of children and adolescents meet the physical activity guidelines of 60 minutes of aerobic exercise daily. The family unit is an important factor for improving physical activity in children and adolescents. Family based physical activity is important for preventing childhood obesity.
While there is no consensus for the most effective parenting strategies around physical activity, here are some suggestions on ways to create an environment that supports physical activity. We recommend that families customize strategies to their fitness level, interests, and resources.
1. Help Your Child Choose Their Favorite Form of Physical Activity
The health benefits of physical activity are seen across the lifespan so it is important to help children find activities they might enjoy as they grow into adulthood.
2. Create Buy-In for the Whole Family
Choose an activity for all fitness levels in your family in order to reduce the barrier to entry and minimize feelings of reluctance or shame. Here are some examples of low stakes activities:
- Walking the dog
- Walking in the park
- Easy rated hike
- Bike ride on flat ground
- Playing frisbee or catch
- Pickleball at local courts
3. Choose a Variety of Age-Appropriate Activities
These should incorporate:
- aerobic excercises,
- muscle strengthening excercises, and
- bone strengthening exercises.
Remember, younger children develop motor skills over time so competition or organized sport may not be appropriate until age 13+.
4. Don't Rely on Weight or Energy Levels to Assess Whether a Child Is Getting Enough Physical Activity
Weight and energey levels do not always reflect the amount of physical activity a child needs. Only 20 percent of adolescents meet physical activity guidelines. The goal is to move more, sit less.
5. Have Teens Set Goals and Self-Monitor
For adolescents, research suggests setting goals and self-monitoring can be effective strategies to increase physical activity. If possible, set an achievable goal and reward when the family achieves it together. Outline a plan to achieve the goal and a process to get the family moving.
Here are some examples of goals:
- Complete a 5k walk or run
- Do three new hikes over the summer
- Walk to school together two times per week for two months
And here are examples of non-food rewards:
- Trip to the movies
- Bowling outing
- Ice skating
- Time off chores
- Using the car
- Special outing with a parent/grandparent
6. Facilitate an Environment to Make Participating in Physical Activity Possible
Look for outdoor parks with walking paths or basketball courts. If you can’t get outdoors, consider altering an activity to be completed indoors. Here are some examples of indoors activities:
- Follow an easy yoga video on YouTube
- Set up hopscotch using painters’ tape
- Play games like red light, green light
- Play basketball with a foam ball and waste paper basket
7. Model the Importance of Physical Activity and Participate in Activities Together
If your children see you enjoying physical activity, they will be more likely to participate and enjoy it too.
8. Designate Time for Physical Activity
Schedules can be busy for every family member. Set aside time for the whole family to do an activity together. Try using the .
9. Add Small Amounts of Physical Activity to Reduce Sedentary Time
If you participate in screen time, incorporate movement by choosing interactive video games like Just Dance or Ring Fit Adventure. During commercial breaks or in between episodes of a show, take a few minutes to walk around or stretch.
10. Consider Your Child’s Fitness Personality
Are they interested in organized sports and display athletic talent? Are they not interested in physical activity? No matter their fitness personality, physical activity is beneficial for everyone so consider what motivates your child to facilitate the right kinds of activities for them.
Fueling Your Family's Physical Activity
Nutrition and physical activity are both important components of a healthy lifestyle. It is important to get the right amounts of food to fuel your physical activity.
- Participating in high intensity physical activity uses carbohydrates as the main fuel source.
- Building muscle requires adequate protein.
- Vitamins and minerals are also vital for growth and development through childhood and adolescents.
Overall, focus on maintaining healthy eating patterns that include fruits/vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, healthy fats, and water. Such healthy eating patterns are beneficial for everyone including children or those living with conditions like diabetes or heart disease.
The Pros & Cons of Sports Nutrition Products
There are many sports nutrition products available that are marketed to enhance athletic performance (bars, gels, sports drinks, protein powder, dietary supplements, and the like.). However, we do not recommend the use of such products in most cases.
Many people can meet their nutrient needs through foods alone. Generally, this is sufficient to fuel your physical activity. Fueling with real food can provide:
- macronutrients,
- micronutrients,
- fiber, and
- phytonutrients.
Sports drinks and bars often contain a large amount of added sugar that everyday athletes or adolescents don't need. Dietary supplements most often do not enhance athletic performance. On the contrary, they are often expensive and can pose health risks such as adverse food and drug interactions or side effects like nausea or bleeding.
Next Steps
If you think your teen needs assistance with their diet, schedule an appointment with a pediatrician, family medicine, or internal medicine provider. View our providers in each of these areas.
Recipes
Research on healthy eating for children and teens identifies how much food from each food group is required for their growth, development, and activity. With these in mind, we created healthy recipes for you and your family to cook at home with low cost and short cook and prep times.
Contact Us
For additional questions or to request an in-person workshop please email us at uuccn@utah.edu.