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Healthy habits lead to healthy kids
As a parent or guardian, you want your children to be the healthiest they can be. Helping your children be physically active and eat nutritious food are foremost in your mind.
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If your child is often eating ultraprocessed foods such as doughnuts and pop and refusing to eat their vegetables, you may be concerned about their health.
Physical activity also contributes to health and well-being. Children and youth need to be physically active 60 to 90 minutes a day, most days of the week, to stay healthy.
What you can do
Healthy habits, including regular physical activity and healthy eating, begin at home at a young age and continue throughout life.
Between the ages of six and 12, children learn to make decisions and begin to make more choices of their own. They are developing eating habits and attitudes they may carry with them for the rest of their lives. Peer pressure influences children and youth of all ages and is particularly strong in the early teen years.
In the meantime, you, as a parent or guardian, play an important role in helping your children stay healthy. • Encourage your children to eat three well-balanced meals a day at regular times. Fill half their plate with vegetables and fruit, a quarter of their plate with whole grains and a quarter with protein foods. • Offer them water, sometimes milk instead of pop and other sugary drinks. • Serve fresh fruit, veggie sticks and yogurt after school and on the weekends. • Encourage free outdoor play while limiting their screen time in front of computers, video games and TV. • Help children get pleasure out of being active by encouraging them to choose activities they love. • Schedule family outings that are active such as hiking a provincial park trail or swimming
at the local community centre pool. • Get your kids cooking; they usually like to eat what they have fun making. • Eat together as a family as often as possible. • Set a good example yourself by eating healthfully and being physically active on a regular basis.
The benefits of physical activity
Physical activity can be a lifesaver — literally. Children of all ages benefit from physical activity. Physical activity strengthens their hearts and lowers their risk of developing heart disease and stroke as they age. Get them to start early! Active kids are more likely to become fit adults.
Children are naturally energetic, but without encouragement they can become inactive. These days, children spend more and more time sitting — in class, on a school bus, using the computer, playing video games or watching TV.
As a result, more than half of Canadian children aren’t active enough for optimal health and development.
How much physical activity do kids need?
Children of all ages benefit from physical activity. The type and amount of activity they need changes as they grow.
For healthy growth and development, infants and preschoolers should be active several times during the day by: • reaching for toys during tummy time on the floor • rolling • crawling • climbing stairs • running • biking
This will help them increase their fitness, have fun, feel happy, develop self-confidence and improve their learning and attention.
Children and teens should accumulate 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous-intensity physical activity daily. They should engage
Healthy habits lead to healthy kids
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in vigorous-intensity activities at least three days per week. • Moderate-intensity aerobic activity makes you breathe harder and your heart beat faster. You should be able to talk, but not sing. These activities include walking quickly, skating, bike riding and skateboarding. • Vigorous-intensity aerobic activity will increase your heart rate even more and you will not be able to say more than a few words without catching a breath. Examples are running, basketball, soccer and cross-country skiing.
Unstructured activities are good for kids
Organized sports can be valuable, but they’re not the only solution. Not all children and teens like competition. As well, unorganized sport and unstructured activity have been shown to be especially beneficial, perhaps because the emphasis is not on winning but on fun. Here are some ideas for unstructured fun: a game of tag • pick-up games of ice or ball hockey • skipping rope • tobogganing • shovelling snow
Family activities to try:
• hike in a local park or conservation area • swim at a local community centre pool • play frisbee, baseball or soccer in the backyard • get involved in activities at the local community centre
One day at a time
Your kids don’t have to make the change all at once. They may start by being active 10 minutes a day, increasing the time each week until daily activity becomes part of their healthy lifestyle. Children are naturally active so they may be doing some light or moderate activity already. Try increasing active periods by 10 minutes and reducing screen time by 10 minutes every few days to make being active a part of their daily routine. — Heart and Stroke Foundation
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