Obesity rates of children and adults are rising. Chronic illness is skyrocketing due to lifestyle choices. According to the CDC 7 out of 10 deaths in America are from chronic illness.[1] Computer use, sedentary living and eating crap are catching up with our nation. We are starting to pay the price for our techno-age, as we get sicker and more toxic from poor nutrition and lack of exercise. Wait no longer, take action now, get moving!
Good bad or indifferent. Our child’s habits are our own. Children learn by watching their parents. Any mom or dad will tell you this is true. But science is backing just how important physical activity role modeling can be.
According to a research article published in “Psychology of Sport and Exercise,” how much exercise parents perform each week correlates with the amount of physical activity their children get. ( Not a huge surprise to me.) But other results in this study surprised me.
It isn’t just how much exercise we role model, perception of competency matters as well.[2] Children who perceived that they were good at physical activity did higher amounts of physical activity. Furthermore, when the child’s parents felt that their child was quite competent, that child demonstrated higher activity levels. The authors concluded that enhancing a child’s perceived competence in a physical activity should be a goal to facilitate more activity involvement for a child.
As a parent, I see this playing out for my kids. Each daughter likes a certain type of dance and wants to do more of it. One loves tap, the other detests it. One loves ballet, the other wants to drop that class from her schedule completely. As an on-looker, it seems each girl loves the style of dance she is best at. I can’t blame them. I’m best at the things I love, but which came first? Did I fall in love with something I was good at, or did I become good because I loved doing it and did it often?
Ah, it is the old chicken or the egg dilemma. Which came first? I suppose for practical purposes, it doesn’t really matter, just as long as the exercise egg is laid, nurtured and hatches daily!
I will continue to take short runs along our street and encourage my kids to tag along. And I will dance with them… when they let me. But now, I will pay even more attention to showing my confidence in their abilities, knowing that my confidence in them will increase the amount of time they will be willing to spend exercising. And that matters, because the more they exercise, the longer they will live and the happier they will be.
[1] http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/overview/index.htm
[2] “Psychology of Sport and Exercise 6 (2005) 381-397”