Back to School - Start by Giving Your Kids the Best Head Start

With the start of the new year and then new term I am sure you are being bombarded by information and trying to decipher what is relevant and what is not.  

But 4 out of 5 primary school aged Australian kids are not doing the minimum recommended amount of exercise, an hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day; fewer still are doing any strength of weight based activities (1).

Its the start of the new school year and thats the perfect time to start new routines.

So what you may ask. Yet physically active kids have been shown to be more social and therefore better equipped for school. They are less susceptible to depression and anxiety and they display better memory and thinking skills.

Physically fit kids have been shown to have greater volume of grey matter in the brain, important for mastering the skills that help us get things done, learning, motor skills and visual processing (2).

So all in all Australia, we have scored a big “FAIL” in providing one of the best things we can do to help our kids - keep them physically active!

Take a few minutes to think about how to fit physical activity into your kids routine - its just like planning what meals you are going to give them.  Can you walk to or from school with them, go to the park after school, let them run around outdoors with friends, take them to park-run or enrol them into some activity they would like to do.  

Want to be a good parent - this is a very simple way to make sure you are!

(1) activehealthykidsaustralia.com.au
(2) Esteban-Cornejo et al (2017)