Fitness for life

During her teen years, your child starts making her own decisions about how physically active she wants to be. Your daughter may decide that she loves lunchtime intramural basketball at school, or aerobics classes at the local community centre, or jogging with her boyfriend. Or she may become less and less physically active as she focuses on other aspects of teen life -- friends, schoolwork, a part-time job -- so that her only exercise is walking to the bus stop in the morning. It's unfortunate, but if she chooses to be less active, she'll have lots of company. Almost two-thirds of Canadians under the age of nineteen aren't active enough to maintain cardiovascular health.

The interest that teenage girls show in physical activity decreases more drastically than does boys' interest. According to a 1994 study conducted by Sport Canada, only 64 per cent of girls between the ages of fifteen and eighteen participated regularly in sports compared with 89 per cent of boys the same age. Impress upon your teens; girls as well as boys, the benefits of exercise: it not only improves physical health, it improves mental well being; it increases self-esteem and reduces depression; and team sports demonstrate the value of cooperation and team play as well as the competitive spirit. Young people who are physically active are more conscious of what they eat and drink, and are aware of the problems created by smoking and drinking. They develop friendships with other like-minded kids that revolve around healthy activities.

Practise what you preach
Talking about fitness with your kids isn't as powerful as modelling a healthy approach to fitness. In a Sport Canada study of Canadians between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four, the rate of the young people's participation in sports was about 12 per cent higher when one of their parents also participated regularly. A mother's participation in sports had a bigger impact on her kids' participation rate than a father's, but both made a noticeable difference in how involved the kids were.

So if you want your fifteen-year-old to put down the TV remote control and go outside and toss a football with his brother, the best way to encourage him is to get into the physical activity yourself. If you can't handle a game of football, there are simpler ways to model an active lifestyle. Leave the car at home and walk to the store or to your job, if possible. Take the stairs instead of the escalator at the mall.