Kids & Company Blog

Exercising: Do It With Your Children!

Often it can be hard to find time to exercise and move around during the busy and hot months of summer. One of my favourite ways to exercise while spending time with family is by exercising with your children! When I had eight little ones, I was too busy chasing them around to find the time. That’s what happens when you have six boys! Nowadays, things seem to have changed and parents are finding new and innovative ways of exercising with their children!

By exercising with your baby at an early age, you are helping your child accept exercise as natural and necessary, therefore creating a path towards a healthy lifestyle. Once you feel that your children are strong enough to participate, you can create an exercise routine that you both enjoy and profit from. By doing some sort of exercise with your children while they are still babies it helps them develop strength, use their new muscles, and maintain balance. My daughter in law has been using these tips while doing yoga with my new grandson Maclean. The picture below is of him on his very own yoga mat!

Some of our favorite exercises are:

• Laying on your stomach and placing your baby near your head. Then lift your neck up to kiss your baby’s head. This exercise works your neck and abdominal muscles.
• Holding onto your baby closely, squat down to a sitting position on a bench. Push down into your heels and return to a standing position.
• The classic walking/jogging outside with your baby in a stroller is great on a beautiful summer day! This activity is not only a good source of exercise, but also a great time to talk to your baby and teach him/her new things.

Within our centres, we ensure that our children are partaking in physical activity and spending time outside every day through our Munchkinetics program. This is the first national movement program for Toddlers and Pre-schoolers. Participation in Munchkinetics activities require children to use their brain and their body together to help them build self-control and physical awareness. At the same time, they learn to master certain gross motor skills and gain self-confidence.

If you would like to see some examples of how exercising with your children can be fun and beneficial for you both check out this blog!

Posted on: Friday July 19th, 2013

Posted by: Victoria Sopik