Keep your kids active this summer

Paul Veugelers
• Activity Credentials:
Author of a major study on the value of school activity and nutrition programs

• Kid Experience:
Has two daughters, aged four and seven

• Strategies:
In his quest to make physical activity “part of normal life,” Paul walks the talk. In the summer, he bikes to and from his job as a professor in the school of public health at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. On the way, he drops off his older daughter at day camp. She pedals behind him on a “third wheel,” an extension to his bike. In our family, it's normal to go on our bikes, he says.

• Bonus Tip:
When you sign kids up for day camp, ask the organizers how much physical activity time they'll get daily.

Nancy Francis
• Activity Credentials:
An associate professor of physical education and kinesiology at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ont.

• Kid Experience:
Raised two kids (now adults)

• Strategies:
Nancy taught her kids an attitude of appreciation -- for the family's good health, for the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, and for the sheer joy of walking, running, jumping and swimming. Let your kids see you appreciating the joy of physical activity and they too will see its benefits, she says.

Start a family ritual of walking after dinner when the air is cooler and more comfortable. And find ways to make water play -- one of the true joys of summer -- part of kids' everyday lives at this time of year.

When the kids were young, the family had a swimming pool in the backyard, which kept the kids and their friends occupied for hours. A plastic pool or a sprinkler can do the same, she says.

• Bonus Tip:
Don't always turn your kids over to others to teach them physical skills. Teach them to throw a ball, swim or jump rope yourself and have fun together.

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