What Motivates Our Kids to be Active ?

As parents, we all know that physical activity is beneficial to health and well being of our kids and it is related to better social and motor development. But how to get our "couch kids" to be active and why our kids are not active ? I'm sure most parents agreed with me that there are barriers for our kids to be active which include low interest, lots of school homeworks especially chinese schooling kids, a feeling among some kids that they aren't good at sports, lack of role models from busy working parents and our fear of letting our kids to play outdoors due to cases of kidnapping etc. 

What motivates our Kids to be active and how we as parents could encourage our kids to do it ? Mommy Jane will share some tips here which works on my Little Angels. First, we need to Choose the right activities for a kid's age and understanding their fitness personality. Whether our kid is interested in being active but isn't a star player and is at risk of getting discouraged in a competitive athletic environment or our kid has athletic ability, is committed to a sport or active and likely to ramp up practice time and intensity of competition. If we understand our kids fitness personality, then we will be better to help our kids to find the right activities and get enough exercise and the most important is to find their enjoyment in physical activity.

As a Mom and role model to my 5 Little Angels, I am active in sports too. Every morning after sending 2 of my Little Angels to school at 6.05 a.m., I will go to a neighbourhood park to do some exercise daily for half an hour while in the evening, my maid will bring them to the park for an hour. Every weekend, I will bring my Little Angels to the park for cycling, playground or for a badminton match between us. This is the times where we could spend together while encourage each other to be active in sports. It is fun and also part of our family's every weekend routine while provide an opportunity to bond.

To encourage my Little Angels to be active, I sign them up for sports related classes like taekwondo, tennis, basketball, futsal, gymnastic, dancing, cheerleading, badminton and many more. 

Kids won't do something that they don't enjoy. When our kids enjoy the activity, they want to do more of it. Practicing a skill will improves their abilities and helps them feel accomplished, especially when the effort is noticed and praised. These good feelings often make our kids want to continue the activity and even try others.

I always praise my Little Angels everytime they make an effort in an active lifestyle. I will encourage physical activities by buying them the bicycles, hula hoop, balls, kites, racquets etc as a rewards whenever they did well in their exams or as their birthday presents to encourage them to stay active.

Healthy habits form early. Start them young and set the foundation for a lifetime of good health. I started my Little Angels with sports classes when they are as young as 3 years old. Before that, I will just bring them to playground for them to play, run around or for cycling and when they are older and when they able to follow the instructions, WJ had joined the futsal training classes. At the age of 6, he knows various sports activities that he had been explore with.

Development from sport goes beyond learning new physical skills. Sport helps our kids to develop better ways to cope with the highs and lows of life. It helps them to learn to control their emotions and channel negative feelings in a positive way. It also helps our kids to develop patience and understanding that it can take a lot of practice to improve their physical skills and academy. Playing in a team helps to develop many of the social skills they will need for life. It teaches them to cooperate, to be less selfish and to listen to others. 

To promote the spirit of sportmanship and the thrill of healthy competition, KidZania Kuala Lumpur did organised various sport activities at their establishments and during their annual CSR activity. Together with their annual elected CongreZZ Kids, KidZania organised various sport activities for the underpriviledged children. Besides that those visited KidZania Kuala Lumpur will also had the chance to join those sportz activities.

For more information on sportz activities organised by KidZania, do visit their website at www.kidzania.com.my and their facebook page at www.facebook.com/KidZaniaKualaLumpur.

Be active yourself and support our kids' interests. If you start this early enough, they will come to regard activity as a normal and fun which is part of our family's everyday routine. Physically active kids are more likely to be motivated, focused and successful in school while mastering physical skills that builds confidence at every age. Start to be active now so that our loved ones will be healthy and happy always.