Fitness Tips for Your Child

Help your child establish exercise habits that are likely to stick for life.

Exercise is an important part of keeping children healthy. Encouraging healthy lifestyles in children is important for when they grow older. Lifestyles that are learned in childhood are more likely to stay with the child into adulthood.

Making family fitness fun

Encouraging healthy habits in your child is one of the best things a parent can do to try to guarantee a healthier life. Being active can help kids and adults have healthier weights, less fat, and stronger muscles and bones. Activity can help prevent heart disease, cancer, and stroke. It can also lessen feelings of depression, and boost confidence. As children get older, they often reduce their physical activity, and too few U.S. children are reaching the goal of one hour of exercise a day. Because of this, making activity a family focus is key.

Exercise goals for kids

Being physically active is an important part of a healthy life. But how much activity should your child get? What kinds of activity are important? Do children need structured exercise programs? 

Aerobic exercise

Aerobic exercise is movement that gets your blood pumping faster around your whole body. It makes your heart beat faster, and your lungs take in more oxygen. This causes you to breathe faster during the exercise. Aerobic exercise is important for kids. It helps keep their heart, lungs, and blood vessels healthy. It can also help them keep or get to a healthy weight.

Organized sports for kids

Soccer, lacrosse, baseball, football — getting involved in youth sports is a rite of passage for many children, enabling them to learn physical and social skills on the playing field. Helping your child pick the best sport for her and providing the right level of encouragement can be a challenge, but with a little research, you will find the sports program that best fits your youngster and your family's budget and schedule.

Sports and children with special needs

All children can benefit from the exercise, energy release, and pure enjoyment of playing sports, including children with special needs. About 18 percent of children in the U.S. have a disability or chronic condition. Special needs children are sometimes not encouraged to exercise because their parents or guardians fear they'll be hurt. But physical activity is just as important for special needs children as it is for any child.

Preventing sports injuries

Each year, more than 2.6 million children,19 years old and younger, visit the emergency department for both recreation and sports-related injuries. Kids are at greater risk than adults for sports injuries because they are still growing and developing. The risk for injury is even greater if the child plays a contact sport, such as basketball, football, or soccer. But many sports injuries can be prevented by learning about the sport and making sure your child has the necessary protection. As a parent, you can also help prevent your child from suffering overuse injuries.