Health COMMENT

IT GOES without saying that children, and their parents, are getting larger and larger. It’s partly to do with the food we eat but also our sedentary lifestyles, and parents these days have to make a real conscious effort to counteract it. Something that I see in practice as well as with my own children is how little physical exercise kids now do at school – both in terms of the journey there and in terms of the amount of time given over for PE lessons.

Until they reach puberty, children are naturally active and want to do active things – it’s rare to find a child who doesn’t like the play park. But it becomes much harder to foster good habits in teenagers unless they are naturally sporty children involved in team sports.

This is why physical activity as a family is so important, as well as giving pre-teens and teenagers the opportunity to try out different sports that might appeal more to them.

We know from numerous studies that our attitude to exercise is ingrained in childhood. The more children participate in physical activity with the family, the more likely they are to continue the habit in to adulthood. Children learn by example and encouragement.

Although my family is not naturally sporty, we make an effort to walk and cycle together. I hope I’ve been able to show my children that you don’t always have to get in the car to go somewhere.