Childhood Obesity Prevention: Make Sure Your Movement Activity Builds Self Esteem
Healthy children are very important to parents.
You know the importance of getting your child to move more to prevent obesity.
In addition to getting them to move more, make sure the activity that they are involved in builds their self esteem also.
Children judge themselves by what they can do physically not how much they know mentally.
As a parent or teacher, many times we make decisions for our children that are based on the thinking of: they make not like it but at least it would be good for them.
If you take that approach you will be missing an important ingredient in helping to prevent childhood obesity and helping your child to be a healthy and happy child.
You can accomplish helping your child to be healthy and happy by doing three simple things: 1.
Make sure the match is a good one for your child.
2.
Make sure the level of frustration is what your child is able to handle.
3.
Make sure there will be consistency in the child being able to take part in the activity.
MAKE SURE THE MATCH IS A GOOD ONE FOR YOUR CHILD If your child hates the water then swimming is not a good activity for them to enjoy.
If they don't like bugs, the heat and outdoors then hiking might not be a good idea either.
If they are a loner then team sports might not work for them.
What I am saying here is take into consideration the temperament of the child, and their preferences.
You will notice their preferences and the things that they like to do by watching them.
For example do they dance along with the cartoons, pretend to be a race car driver, throw or shoot a ball, those are all indicators.
Do they pretend to be a karate expert, or superhero, girls love to be superheroes too as well as boys love to dance.
Other indicators are their responses to watching different events.
The excitement on their faces, the questions that they ask or the squeals of delight that they express when watching it.
Some not so obvious indicators are when they read about different activities or are read to.
Because children have different preferences for learning things they may need to experience the activity for themselves feeling and exploring the activity with their bodies.
Sometimes neither you nor your child knows.
This is one of the reasons why you want to introduce your children to physical activity early.
Even infants can participate in activities like dance and swimming classes.
When you introduce children to physical activity while they are young it helps to define their preferences later in life.
You also want them to understand that physical activity is an important part of life and is a part of being healthy.
EXPOSURE, FRUSTRATION AND CONSISTENCY Just because a child may appear to be a loner does not mean that they will not benefit from team sports or activities that are done in a group.
Maybe they may benefit from being on a team and yet still be responsible for themselves individually like swimming or gymnastics.
Just because they don't seem to like being totally immersed in water doesn't mean that they don't like water all together maybe instead of swimming they can learn to surf.
The whole point of this is to explore all of your options and take into consideration what is going to be the best fit for your child.
A little frustration is okay but not so much that they will feel defeated or discouraged.
You don't want them to be discouraged because of their abilities.
Allow time for things to develop for your child, if they really like the activity they will persevere.
Do not be too attach to the outcome.
The main objective is that they are happy.
Because if they are happy they will be consistent.
If they enjoy it they are likely to stick with it.
This will eventually build competency in that particular activity.
And this in turn will make them feel good about themselves and build self esteem.
But even if they seem to change every week it is okay, they are either finding their way or they love everything where they get to use their body.
Lastly if they love it or at least like it, they will be able to deal with the frustration that is involved in learning a new thing.
So you see building your child's esteem through finding an activity or activities that they like or love and matches their personality and who they are will build your child's self esteem.
Having a small amount of frustration causes the child to grow and mature.
It fosters self mastery and is appreciated by the child more because they are proving to themselves that they can do it.
You know the importance of getting your child to move more to prevent obesity.
In addition to getting them to move more, make sure the activity that they are involved in builds their self esteem also.
Children judge themselves by what they can do physically not how much they know mentally.
As a parent or teacher, many times we make decisions for our children that are based on the thinking of: they make not like it but at least it would be good for them.
If you take that approach you will be missing an important ingredient in helping to prevent childhood obesity and helping your child to be a healthy and happy child.
You can accomplish helping your child to be healthy and happy by doing three simple things: 1.
Make sure the match is a good one for your child.
2.
Make sure the level of frustration is what your child is able to handle.
3.
Make sure there will be consistency in the child being able to take part in the activity.
MAKE SURE THE MATCH IS A GOOD ONE FOR YOUR CHILD If your child hates the water then swimming is not a good activity for them to enjoy.
If they don't like bugs, the heat and outdoors then hiking might not be a good idea either.
If they are a loner then team sports might not work for them.
What I am saying here is take into consideration the temperament of the child, and their preferences.
You will notice their preferences and the things that they like to do by watching them.
For example do they dance along with the cartoons, pretend to be a race car driver, throw or shoot a ball, those are all indicators.
Do they pretend to be a karate expert, or superhero, girls love to be superheroes too as well as boys love to dance.
Other indicators are their responses to watching different events.
The excitement on their faces, the questions that they ask or the squeals of delight that they express when watching it.
Some not so obvious indicators are when they read about different activities or are read to.
Because children have different preferences for learning things they may need to experience the activity for themselves feeling and exploring the activity with their bodies.
Sometimes neither you nor your child knows.
This is one of the reasons why you want to introduce your children to physical activity early.
Even infants can participate in activities like dance and swimming classes.
When you introduce children to physical activity while they are young it helps to define their preferences later in life.
You also want them to understand that physical activity is an important part of life and is a part of being healthy.
EXPOSURE, FRUSTRATION AND CONSISTENCY Just because a child may appear to be a loner does not mean that they will not benefit from team sports or activities that are done in a group.
Maybe they may benefit from being on a team and yet still be responsible for themselves individually like swimming or gymnastics.
Just because they don't seem to like being totally immersed in water doesn't mean that they don't like water all together maybe instead of swimming they can learn to surf.
The whole point of this is to explore all of your options and take into consideration what is going to be the best fit for your child.
A little frustration is okay but not so much that they will feel defeated or discouraged.
You don't want them to be discouraged because of their abilities.
Allow time for things to develop for your child, if they really like the activity they will persevere.
Do not be too attach to the outcome.
The main objective is that they are happy.
Because if they are happy they will be consistent.
If they enjoy it they are likely to stick with it.
This will eventually build competency in that particular activity.
And this in turn will make them feel good about themselves and build self esteem.
But even if they seem to change every week it is okay, they are either finding their way or they love everything where they get to use their body.
Lastly if they love it or at least like it, they will be able to deal with the frustration that is involved in learning a new thing.
So you see building your child's esteem through finding an activity or activities that they like or love and matches their personality and who they are will build your child's self esteem.
Having a small amount of frustration causes the child to grow and mature.
It fosters self mastery and is appreciated by the child more because they are proving to themselves that they can do it.
Source...