Why You Should Make Your Children Workout from an Early Age

With all the junk food that both children and adults consume on a daily basis these days, working out has become an essential part of our lives to stay fit.

So why not inspire your children to start working out from an early age?

Not only will this instil the good habit of working out in them, but it will also help them to lead a disciplined and healthy life.

So Why Should You Make Your Children Work Out From An Early Age?

The benefits of working out from an early age are countless. From staying fit to eliminating risky diseases like heart failure in the future, there are endless advantages for children who are used to doing an organized set of physical activities every day.

Here are some of the major benefits of making your children workout from an early age:

• Eliminates Risks of Heart Diseases

Still one of the leading causes of death in many countries, risks of heart failure can be averted by exercising regularly.

Since the heart itself is a muscle, if exercised, it will function better, just like the rest of the muscles in a human body! And, if your child is working out from a very young age, chances are, he/she will grow up to have a healthy and proper functioning heart.

What’s more is that when a person exercises, the amount of cholesterol and fats in their blood decreases. This makes the blood vessels of the heart more flexible and lowers a person’s overall blood pressure.

So, if you want your child to not be open to risks of heart diseases in the future, now would be a good time to make them work out.

• Strengthens Lungs

One of the advantages of making your child exercise is that it will increase their lungs efficiency by a greater degree.

Since exercise increases the capacity of the lungs, oxygen intake becomes higher. Their metabolism rate picks up as more oxygen enters their body, making its way to working muscles, strengthening them in the process.

As people grow older, they get more prone to breathing complications. So, if a child is trained to exercise from a very young age, his/her chances of having breathing issues lessen by a significant amount.

Another advantage of having well-functioning lungs is that your child will be a better athlete in sports activities.

• Lower Risk of Diabetes

Nowadays, at least one in ten adults suffer from diabetes. What’s extremely sad about having diabetes is that it triggers other illnesses in the body which include loss of eyesight, increased risks of stroke and heart failure.

Exercising regularly decreases the sugar level in our body and helps reduce the risk of diabetes in an adult by a significant amount.

• Keeps Obesity At Bay

Are you afraid that your child is overweight? Getting them to exercise might just be the only way of regulating their weight as per their age and height.

So, take this as an opportunity to get them into the healthy habit of exercising. This will help to maintain their weight and prevent diseases related to obesity in the future.

• Stronger Bones

To prevent your children’s bones from going brittle by the time they are in their 40s, train them to exercise from an early age.

Studies show that from the age of 40, adults generally start to lose their bone mass.

If your children are working out from a very young age, there is a higher chance of them having a greater bone density in the body. This means, their bones will be less prone to reduced bone mass.

Medical conditions like osteoporosis can be prevented if children are trained to exercise regularly. Apart from the overall physical well-being of a child, exercising can also be advantageous for boosting their overall mood.

How to Make Children Work Out From an Early Age?

Now that you are familiar with the benefits of making your children work out from an early age, perhaps, it is now time for you to focus on how to get them to exercise!

Here are some tips to get them working out with enthusiasm!

1. Be Their Inspiration

There is no bigger role model that your child could have, other than you. So, if you want them to exercise every day to stay fit, you should probably start exercising regularly yourself.

Not only will they get inspired seeing you work out, but they might also even want to join you in your workouts. Make this a regular habit and use this great opportunity to bond with your children!

2. Exercise As a Means of Transportation

Perhaps the easiest way to get your children to do some physical activity is to make them work out while travelling! Instead of taking the car, walk them to school for a change.

You can also let them take their bikes to the park to get a fair amount of exercise every evening!

3. Ask Everyone to Participate

While exercising, ask everyone present in the house to join you and your children for the daily workout sessions. As the saying goes, “The more, the merrier.”, workouts become more fun when it turns into a group activity.

This will not only boost their mood, but it will also show them that everyone is being very supportive about exercising regularly. They will no longer perceive it as an annoying or negative activity that you pester them about.

4. Household Activities

If your kids are not willing to work out at all, you could try and be a bit cleverer by asking them to lend a hand while doing the house chores. Give them easy and safe tasks like doing the dishes, helping someone build a dog house or mowing the lawn.

5. Exciting Physical Activities To Try Out During Vacation

If you are a family who loves to travel together, then you can try out various physical activities like swimming, hiking, kayaking etc. and indulge yourselves in a bit of physically challenging activities!

Pro tip! Reducing screen time can also create more chances for your kids to do some physical activity. What’s more, you can also buy them some items related to outdoor games that require physical activity as a present for their birthdays!

Do try out these ideas and see if they work out with your children. If you still fail to get them to exercise, enrolling them on their favourite sports activity may be a good way of getting them to workout.

Photo by Mark Stosberg on Unsplash