Are your kids active enough? We all need exercise every day, do your kids get enough? I was always concerned about Hailey’s activity level after I got divorced. When I was married we lived in a house in a nice neighborhood, I knew my neighbors, Hailey knew the kids, we had lived there since she was three. I felt safe letting her go outside to play with other kids.
Once I got divorced that changed. We lived in a series of apartments and although they were always in what I felt where good areas, I didn’t feel safe letting her outside alone. When we lived in the house I could look out the back window and see her in our yard or look out the front window and see her in the neighbors yard. I knew that everyone was watching the kids.
In an apartment I couldn’t always see her from the window and I knew other parents weren’t able to see the kids either. It became a choice between sitting outside with Hailey so she could run around and play, or getting things done in the house. If I had things to do inside, I made her stay in with me.
Looking back, that probably wasn’t the best thing I could have done. Hailey is not very active, probably because she never developed the habit.
A recent study shows that our children only spend an average of 20 minutes a day in moderate or vigorous activity. It’s a sad reflection of how busy our society has become, and how unsafe we feel our children are outside.
When I was a child we were outside if we weren’t sleeping, eating or in school. My mother practically had to drag us in every night to get us bathed and in bed.
We need to change this, with obesity rates rising we need to get our kids outside and get them active. It’s not easy, especially for a single parent, but we have to make the effort. Our kids future health depends on it.