Bringing up active kids.
The key to bringing up a healthy active child is, among other things, starting early. At the age of 2 months some babies start to hold their heads up for short amounts of time. At 7 months some babies begin to crawl, and at 12-14 months they learn to walk. At all of these stages, children can be encouraged in physical activity, and this can help develop their confidence and competency. Here are some activities for you to try at the toddler stage.
- 1-2 years (Walking)
This is a great change when it comes to the mobility of your child. As soon as baby gets his legs working, you won’t stop them from tearing around and getting their hands into everything. Make sure your house is baby proof!
Putting on music can be a great way to get baby up and moving, especially if mum is dancing along too.
Toys that can be pushed or pulled are great and closer to 2 years you may think about investing in a push along bike or tricycle.
When going to the park or shops, don’t take a stroller unless you need to. As a general rule a child can walk (with rests) about 1km per year so don’t be afraid to ditch the pram when walking to the local. Make a game of it so your child doesn’t begin to think of it as a chore, play eyespy along the way or have races to various landmarks. You can also make a silly walk game, like hopping like a rabbit or prowling like a tiger to make it fun for your child. Try to walk on grass if you can, just so if they are still a little unsteady they won’t fall on something too hard. Close to 2 years is also a good time to start teaching your baby basic road safety.
Take a soft ball into the backyard and start to build your child’s hand eye coordination with throwing, rolling and catching activities. Remember to always reward your child with praise when they try something new!
Kids this age rarely play with the expensive toys parents buy them. Instead invest in a few big cardboard boxes in the backyard and you won’t see them for days!
- 2-4 years (Running)
Now is a great time for chasing and running activities. Also your child should be able to ride a tricycle or a scooter so encourage them to run/cycle around the backyard whenever you are out there hanging out the washing etc.
More complicated ball activities can be played although they probably won’t understand any rules yet so don’t get angry at them if they don’t get it.
Your child should start to be able to kick around a pool with floatation devices on unassisted.
During the wet weather you can play indoor activities like building forts with the lounge, chase and tickle, or take them out in a raincoat and an umbrella and have a wet adventure in the garden!
Maybe take your child camping in the milder weather and get them used to being outdoors more than indoors. This is around the time they may start having favourite TV shows so try and limit their TV time. Rather than saying ‘No’ to TV, which the child might not understand the reason for, instead try to distract them with other things like ‘Oh but mummy needs your help making dinner!’ or ‘how about we watch some after we go to the park’.
If the weather is mild, perhaps organise a night when you can camp in the yard with a tent. It will be a great adventure for kids and maybe for mum too!
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