I went on a two mile scooter ride today with my 10 year old. Now I consider myself very strong and active but I totally underestimated how that would feel. I’m impressed Liam had the leg strength to do that relatively easily. Your base leg starts burring after a while. This may seem like a normal activity to do with your child but for us it is special.
My son has never been into organized sports and any mention of starting a sport sends him into a state of resistance and a hard no! In an effort to get Liam moving more than he currently does, I have been going the extra mile (literally) and getting active with him. It’s quite a challenge to motivate myself to swim with him or go on a scooter ride with him after a day of work and a workout for myself but it’s time.
He doesn’t love traditional activities. He loves trampolines, scootering, swimming, and sometimes running. As I mentioned, organized sports are not a thing for him quite yet so we had to get creative. In doing so, I also didn’t want him to develop an unhealthy relationship with exercise and activity so here is what I did:
- I asked if he wanted to compete with me with steps. He said yes so I got him a kid’s fit bit and he crushes me every day. Even on days that I work when I get lots of steps!
- Told him to choose one activity to try and said if he didn’t like it after 30 days he can move on to another. This week we are trying a kid’s CrossFit class at Risen Strength. Fingers crossed.
- I have subjected myself to copious amounts of scooter rides, swimming, and walks with the dog when he asks even when I’m tired as hell from a long day.
My older son gravitated towards team sports from day one. Liam gravitates towards learning all the countries and their accompanying flags and languages. Very different but both gifted. It isn’t my goal for Liam to lose weight. Is he bigger than the average child? Yes, but all I can do is prioritize healthy food choices 80% of the time and movement as a way to feel better and mentally decompress. I’m hoping he learns to love it into adulthood.
What do you do to keep your kids active when they don’t love activity?
