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If you’ve ever tried to wrangle a child from his favourite game console before and lost, fret not as many parents are facing the same frustrations. Gaming sessions can go on for hours if not kept properly in check.
Staying indoors and staying stationary have become a way of life for most youngsters who are used to these modern forms of multimedia entertainment.
How can parents help their kids stay fit when the latter would rather stay glued to their favourite video games?
Games that promote physical activity
As parents, you need to stay ahead of the game. Kids nowadays have a wide array of games at their fingertips. Your role is to make sure that you play a part in picking games that can keep them entertained and active at the same time, suggested Micheal Lim, senior clinical exercise physiologist from the Department of Sport Medicine Service at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
- Nintendo has a variety of games which incorporate body movements. Its Wii Fit game offers a collection of exercises performed on a wireless balancing board.
- Sony PlayStation 3’s EA Sports Active 2 for PS3 uses a camera to track a player’s movement. The player can interact with an online community and is even supervised by a virtual personal trainer.
- Xbox 360’s Kinect Sports and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved also have a series of high impact sports for players to practice in the comfort of their homes.
- For those who prefer high intensity dance, Wii’s Dance Dance Revolution and Xbox 360’s Dance Central provide interactive body movement and music video games.
Besides helping to keep the players active, these games can promote a closer bond between family members who share in the fun. However, it is important that active video gaming should not be used as a surrogate for participation in sports and other recreational physical activities. Parents should continue to encourage a child to accumulate at least 60-90 minutes of physical activity a day.
Taking breaks, avoid snacking
Parents need to make sure that the kids take sufficient breaks from the gaming consoles, especially those static ones that don’t require much physical activity. Parents should aim to restrict sedentary gaming to 30 minutes and where possible, replace it with active gaming. On an average day, a child should not spend more than 2 hours in sedentary activities, which can include sitting around, watching television and playing computer games.
Parents should also look out for the tendency of children to fill themselves up with snacks whilst playing the video games. Try to promote healthy habits from young. Make sure your kids don’t get into the habit of mindlessly consuming high-calorie food and sugar-laden sodas.'
For parents at their wits’ end, if it’s any consolation, kids will usually outgrow or even tire of playing a particular game after some time. That can be your cue to try to introduce options that involve more physical activity. |