Motivating Your Kids to Run
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Get them off the couch and get them active

Your kids have been sitting on the sofa all winter break.  They are bored, or worse they are texting or playing video games constantly.  It is time to get them off the couch and get them active.  Kind of like a New Year’s resolution for you – for your kids.  You need to find a way to get them energized and off the couch and ready for spring sports in a positive way, rather than with screaming and yelling.

Ok, so easier said than done, right?  Even though they may be quite content to sit in front of the TV forever, running is a great way to get them going.  They don’t need any equipment, just a good pair of running shoes and some warm clothes.  And it is claimed that running has the lowest incidence of injury of any children’s sports.  The hardest part is getting them motivated.

While running may appeal to adults, kids sometimes find it boring, so you need to make it fun to keep them engaged.  If you are a runner yourself, you are off to a good start as a positive role model for your kids.  But you but need to remember that they can’t keep your pace if they are just starting out.  And keep in mind that your example is what they see, so if you come in after a run and collapse or complain of every little ache, pain or injury, your example may backfire.  Running needs to be seen as fun, easy and something to enjoy.

According to a New York Times article entitled, On Your Own: Running; Motivating Kids to Exercise Can Be Child’s Play by Marc Bloom, here are some tips to help get your kids off the couch:

Don’t rush them
The risk in running for a very young child is not physical, but emotional. Preschool children love to move, but they run in short, fast bursts - up the block, across the yard. Give them ''jogging'' and they may do it, but inevitably they will balk, finding it difficult to sustain. This could result in a negative attitude toward running that will be hard to undo as they get older.

Keep the mileage short
Ever since kids began running marathons, sports medicine authorities have argued about whether such distances are hazardous to children. The American Academy of Pediatrics is against it. Most experts concur, if for no other reason than that long-distance training would gobble up most of a child's free time.

Avoid roads when possible
Many kids feel embarrassed running in view of neighborhood children, and parks and tracks offer ''protection.'' Parks also give kids sights, smells and soft footing, while tracks offer the safety of containment and the opportunity to run laps, fool around, and make a game out of a workout. A parent and a couple of kids could easily run relay races at a track. When on the road, let your child choose the course. He'll probably avoid the hills, like you used to do.

Let them determine the level of competition
''Competition for kids is good, as long as it's not extreme.'' But too often parental pressure makes it extreme, setting a child up for an unwelcome experience.
Emphasize participation, not performance. Be aware that children always start out way too fast in races, bringing on premature fatigue. Also, they don't respond well to heat because their sweating mechanism is not fully developed.

Motivation:  Think like a child
When jogging with a child, offer a spelling quiz, math games and other mind drills to pass the time. Or do silly things like hand signals. Approaching a corner, extend your arms to make the turn, as in a car. This wouldn't work with an older child, who should be mature enough to realize, ''What a nice day. I should be out running.'' But they don't; television has seen to that. ''They are passive recipients,'' said Dr. Lyle Michaeli, director of sports medicine at the Children's Hospital in Boston. ''Teen-agers need to initiate exercise, not have it handed to them.'' Since teen-agers thrive on the security of peer approval and involvement, the best way to motivate your child to run is to try to get his or her friends running as well. And the best way to accomplish that is through community or school programs, or through the local branch of the Y.M.C.A., or even a church or synagogue. You'll likely turn up someone experienced in physical fitness willing to supervise a group of young runners.

In addition to the positive fitness benefits of running, it has been shown to increase alertness in the classroom and also make kids more compassionate toward others.  So, yet another reason to start the year off with a run and make positive changes in all aspects of your child’s life!

© 2010 georgiarunner.com