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I was never a big sports kid. Neither of my parents were athletic, and if they thought I was staying healthy at school, they were wrong. In retrospect, this was a big mistake, because we’re increasingly finding that physical activity is incredibly important for children’s cognitive and physical development, setting them on a healthy trajectory for the future.
So how can I do better for my kids? My kids are 5 and 7, and the UK physical health guidelines say that people aged 5 to 18 should get an average of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a day. This means activity that gets kids a little hot and sweaty (like playground games or a brisk walk). The US guidelines are similar.
While an hour a day seems like a lot, it’s important to remember that kids tend to be intermittently active, says Russ Jago of the University of Bristol in the UK. When you add up the time kids spend running around in playgrounds and after-school sports clubs, it starts to seem doable. Thankfully, the guidelines emphasize 60 minutes a day on average. Some days you’ll be more active, others less, and that’s OK.
Still, I don’t really know what my kids are doing at school, so I’m wondering if they…
