How do I talk with my child about exercise and movement?

• I want to make sure your body stays healthy. One way to keep you healthy is to make sure you move a bit each day. Let’s look at how much you already move

• I’ve noticed that you do a lot of movement each day already. You walk around the house, you help me with chores, and we go for walks to the store. That counts as movement. It keeps your body healthy. Let’s keep noticing how often we move our body. It’s healthy to move our joints and muscles a lot every day!

• Let’s figure out how often you’re not moving. You usually don’t move very much when you are playing with a screen. Let’s figure out how to do more moving when you’re on a screen. Do you want to do more movements with the screen, like dancing or playing sports? Or, do you want me to set a timer so that you can take movement breaks during your screen time?

• Let’s figure out how to do more moving when you usually don’t move. I have an idea. When you’re sitting, let’s try to make it more social. When you’re sitting, let’s make it more educational. We can socialize and learn together. Or, you can socialize and learn with your friends. Maybe we can even take some movement breaks together when we do sitting activities.

• We do too much sitting! We don’t move our bodies enough! We need to get up and do more moving! What kinds of moving would you like to do? We can play games together, go for walks, use the stairs more often, do more chores together. We can do yoga and stretching exercises together.

• Let’s figure out how to do more exercise. We are moving pretty well now, but we need to get our heart beat up. What do you like to do to get your heart beating faster? What about running? What about swimming? What about playing basketball or soccer? How about riding a bicycle?

• What kinds of sports activities do your friends do? Can we invite them to do movement with us?

• Should we sign up for a sports activity at the community center?