This is not news: our children don’t get enough movement. In fact, none of us do. I’m sitting here typing on a keyboard, that, plus the phone, plus the car, plus reading various materials, plus the occasional meeting, pretty much summarizes my workday. At the end of the day I’m tired, so as soon as dinner is ready, I’m sitting again to eat it. Then, after that, I might watch a movie. If I am not careful, I may find I have been sitting for almost all of the time I am awake. That is just not healthy.

And it sets a terrible example for our children.

Shooting hoops is better than sitting.

Unfortunately, we tend to impose a similar day on our kids (I wonder what the sitting/moving stats are for the average school day).

I’m always looking for ways to build more movement into my son’s day. During the summer when we went to drama camp downtown, for example, we had a nice long walk both ways from Union Station to the theatre. As much as possible, we do grocery shopping on foot, rather than using the car.

Now, during the school year, we try to have him walk or ride to school every day. It means adjusting our schedule a bit. He has to get up a little earlier, which means he has to go to bed a little earlier. It is so easy to slip – it’s a cold day, it’s raining, we had a late night etc. If we have a few days like that in a row, we are already at risk of just doing it the easy way and taking the car. It takes extra effort to get the habit going, but once he is in the routine, he really likes it.

That’s the funny thing: we may resist physical activity, but if feels great once we get moving.

Kids need to move!