Movement

It’s important for your child to move! Set time aside each day for you and your child to move.

goals

Incorporate movement into your child’s daily routine. Improve your child’s cardiovascular fitness.

objectives

  1. Objective #1. Notice how much you and your child already move

  2. Objective #2. Reduce screen time. Make screen time and sedentary activities more educational and more interactive.

  3. Objective #3. Reduce sedentary time, and increase overall movement time

  4. Objective #4. Increase how much your child exercises

  5. Objective #5: Increase the variety of exercise in your child’s day to enhance cardiovascular fitness

movement:

WHAT additional INFORMATION DO I NEED?

Movement is good for everyone. It improves physical and emotional well-being. It can prevent chronic diseases. Make sure that you and your child move every day. It does not matter how much or how little movement you and your child have right now. Just make sure that you gradually work your way upwards and do a bit more movement each day.

Read the Accordion bullets below for additional information about movements. The bullets include suggestions for how to reach the objectives above.

  • Discover how often you and your child already move. If you’re feeling unsure about how to get your child to move more, first just start noticing how much moving you and your child already do. You might be pleasantly surprised to discover that you are already part of the way towards the movement objectives below. Standing and preparing a meal in your kitchen counts as movement. Taking out the trash counts as movement. Walking to the store counts as movement. Stretching your body and being playful with your child count as movement. Pay attention to how much you and your child already move. You will have more success if you and your child learn how to move more together. In the objectives below, you’ll find some ideas about how you can get your child to move just a little bit more.

  • Increase movement during sedentary activities (sitting and lying down).

    Your child can move more, even if they’re not doing a movement activity!

    Examples:

    Screen time, especially recreational screen time, is the most passive activity of the day. Break up your child’s screen time, and make sure they move every fifteen minutes.

    Replace recreational screen time for educational or interactive screen-based activities, such as socializing via videoconference/ Face time. These screen based activities provide more stimulation to the brain and provide the body with just a little bit more movement.

    Reduce screen time, and replace it with non-screen-based interactive behaviors. For example, use sedentary time for reading, singing, doing puzzles, or socializing instead of using it for screen time.

  • Reduce sedentary behavior (sitting and lying down).

    Too much sitting does not allow the body to move enough. Too much sitting reduces the positive effects of moving, even if your child does move. Reduce how often your child sits. Break up sitting times so that each episode of sitting is shorter in duration.

    Example for young children:

    Reduce the amount of time spent sitting in a stroller or car seat. Restrained sitting time in a stroller or car seat should be less than one hour per day. If sitting in the car seat or stroller takes longer than one hour, break up the trip and make sure your child has some time to move about. Avoid doing a whole hour in a stroller or car seat. Mix things up, and give your child some movement breaks in between.

    Example for school-aged children:

    Break up prolonged sitting at school and during homework by having regular movement breaks. Reduce recreational screen time to two hours per day maximum.

    Use screen time activities that promote movement

    Use screen time to increase movement, such as dancing to a You Tube video, or playing interactive sports using a screen (e.g. Wii).

  • Increase how often your child exercises

    Increase movement for young children

    Your young child should spend at least three hours in a variety of physical activities each day. You’ll be surprised to discover how many times per day your child could be moving. Running about the house or doing a short walk with you count as movement. Notice how much time your child is moving today, and add a little bit more movement to the day. Your young child should spend at least 60 minutes each day in energetic play. More is better!

    Increase mild exercise for school-aged children

    Every day, your school-aged child should do 2 hours of light or moderate movement. Walking is a good example. Your child can move by walking instead of taking the bus, using the stairs instead of the elevator, or socializing outside while walking instead of socializing indoors in a sedentary activity. Figure out how much movement your child does now. Then, add a little bit more. Help your chid get to two hours per day. It does not have to occur all at once. A bunch of 15-minute activities can add up to 2 hours quickly enough.

    Increase moderate to high levels of exercise

    Every day your school-aged child should spend at least 60 minutes per day doing vigorous exercise. The exercise should make your child’s heart beat faster. Your child can do short bursts several times per day if preferred, as long as it adds up to sixty minutes. Figure out how often your child gets out of breath when moving. Then, make each episode last a bit longer. Or, do more episodes per week.

    Three times per week, your school-aged child should do vigorous activities to help strengthen bones and muscles.

  • Increase the variety of exercise

    Have a mixture of light, moderate, and vigorous movement activities each day.

    Light activities. Leisurely walking, such as walking your dog or tossing a ball back and forth. Do some leisurely walking whenever you can. Walk to school with your child, Or encourage your child to get off the bus earlier and meet them for a walk home from school.

    Moderate activities. Figure out how often your child does moderate movements each day. Then, add a little bit more so that it adds up to about one or two hours per day. You could do errands while walking with your child, instead of taking the car. You could do small errands several times per week instead of doing them all on the same day. Bicycle riding, using a scooter, using a skateboard, or distance walking at a moderate pace all count as moderate activities.

    Vigorous activities. Vigorous activities build muscle strength and bones. Basketball, soccer, netball, lap swimming, skipping and running are good examples. Your child could also do yoga, jumping, push-ups, sit-ups, or lifting weights. Anything that raises your child’s hear rate is a good start. Figure out how often your child does vigorous movement each week. Then, add a little bit more so that it adds up to about one hour per day.

 

How do I talk with my child about movement?

  • I want to make sure your body stays healthy. One way to keep you healthy is to make sure you move a bit each day. Let’s look at how much you already move

  • I’ve noticed that you do a lot of movement each day already. You walk around the house, you help me with chores, and we go for walks to the store. That counts as movement. It keeps your body healthy. Let’s keep noticing how often we move our body. It’s healthy to move our joints and muscles a lot every day!

  • Let’s figure out how often you’re not moving. You usually don’t move very much when you are playing with a screen. Let’s figure out how to do more moving when you’re on a screen. Do you want to do more movements with the screen, like dancing or playing sports? Or, do you want me to set a timer so that you can take movement breaks during your screen time?

  • Let’s figure out how to do more moving when you usually don’t move. I have an idea. When you’re sitting, let’s try to make it more social. When you’re sitting, let’s make it more educational. We can socialize and learn together. Or, you can socialize and learn with your friends. Maybe we can even take some movement breaks together when we do sitting activities.

  • We do too much sitting! We don’t move our bodies enough! We need to get up and do more moving! What kinds of moving would you like to do? We can play games together, go for walks, use the stairs more often, do more chores together. We can do yoga and stretching exercises together.

  • Let’s figure out how to do more exercise. We are moving pretty well now, but we need to get our heart beat up. What do you like to do to get your heart beating faster? What about running? What about swimming? What about playing basketball or soccer? How about riding a bicycle?

  • What kinds of sports activities do your friends do? Can we invite them to do movement with us?

  • Should we sign up for a sports activity at the community center?

 

When do I consult with professionals?

The strategies listed above are good for most children, no matter their age or their disability status. Even children with medical conditions need to move on a regular basis. However, the strategies listed on this page do not constitute medical advice. Only you and your child’s health care providers will know what’s best for your child.

If your child has a motor disability, you may need to be more creative about how to get your child to move successfully. You may aneed to think more carefully about how to get your child’s heart rate up, how to make your child breathe harder- or whether your child should get their heart rate up at all. You and your child’s health care providers will need to modify the strategies discussed on this page to meet the needs of your child, or use different strategies altogether. That said, there’s almost never a reason for your child not to move, or not to move a little bit more. Read the following paragraphs. They will help you to decide if professional supports are needed.

Speak with your child’s health care providers if your child has spastic muscles, if your child has low muscle tone, if your child has loose joints, or if your child is very clumsy. These types of motor difficulties can make it difficult to keep up with peers or do team sports, for example. But, these conditions are not a reason for your child not to move at all.

Find out from your health care providers what type of movement is healthiest for your child. The goal is to keep the joints mobile, and allow the muscles to contract and relax often. The goal is also to help your child raise their heart rate and breathe harder than normal for a while each day. The recommendations made in the sections above are good for all children, but your child with a motor disability may need some modifications. Check with your child’s health care provider to get some ideas about how to help your child move.

 

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