Making Moves: Balancing Busy Days and Active Kids for a Healthier Lifestyle

Hear from our fantastic Allied Health Assistant, Mel on the Central Coast and her advice on getting kids more active in a home setting:

We hear the news readers read aloud the latest research on why we should get moving and the wonderful benefits of regular physical activity. We then make a mental note to get moving more often, but then we find our attention is diverted to the next thing; school lunches, homework and has somebody fed the dog today?

Knowing what it’s like in a busy family, I have taken the time for you to break down what are the recommendations for kids in getting moving and more importantly how you can make it happen as part of your already busy day.

Firstly, here is the information you may have heard on the news recently. According to research conducted by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2 in 3 (70%) of children aged 2 to 17 do not meet physical activity guidelines set for Australians.

So why is this important? As touched on in a recent blog post we published discussing the benefits of regular physical activity and the positive impact it can have on a person living with a disability. Getting active every day helps not only reduces the likelihood of obesity but also helps us build healthy bones and muscles, along with getting us out and about and being connected with our friends and family.

Physical activity recommendations for kids aged 5-17 years old are at least 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous activity, this means huff and puff activity alongside several hours of light activities each day. The good news is that this exercise can be done in bursts throughout the day. Please note that there are no set guidelines for children living with a disability or a chronic illness, the advice is to try to meet the physical activity recommendations for your age group.

We’ve discussed what’s happening with our kids across Australia, we’ve talked about all the glorious benefits that occur when our kids move daily and now as I promised, I will give you some tips and tricks on how to fit it into your day.

1 - Walk scooter or bike ride to school. Do you have a child or know someone still waiting to learn how to ride a bike? We’re offering learn-to-ride sessions for the July school holidays 2023 on the Central Coast, click here for more information.

2 - Borrow the dog’s tennis ball and play fetch with kids. Throw the ball then have them go after it and bring it back to you or grab a racquet and have hits back and forth with each other.

3 - Jumping on the trampoline. This is a great one when they utter the dreaded B word, “I’m bored!”. Challenged them to do 100 jumps on the trampoline, jumping as high as they can while you time them.

4 - Practice a skill they learnt at one of our Inclusive Sports Programs. Kick a ball, basketball dribbling, footy passes, and tennis serves against the garage wall.

5 - Keepy Uppy. The beloved game of Bluey and her family! Grab a balloon or two and hit it up in the air, challenge the kids to keep it up and not let it hit the ground. This is one of our family favourites.

Just remember with kids, it’s tough to make every day perfect in terms of hitting all the recommendations around health and movement, but doing a little bit throughout your day, every day makes a huge difference to our kid’s health and how they feel.

If you need additional help both inside and outside of the home, Mel as well as our other Allied Health Assistants are on hand to help keep participants active and healthy. For more information on our Allied Health Services, please click on the link here.