It's imperative to talk positively to your children about the importance of being healthy and active. Despite 1 in 4 Australian children now being overweight or obese, don’t focus on weight, size or “diets”. Chat about the things that are important to them like having heaps of energy for sport, or other fun activities and building strong bodies.

An active child is more likely to:

• Perform better academically
• Sleep better
• Have more confidence and self-esteem
• Have reduced risks of being obese or developing Type 2 diabetes

The Australian Dietary Guidelines for Children recommend:

1. Sufficient physical activity
2. Daily intake of vegetables, fruit, wholegrain and high fibre breads and cereals, lean meats and poultry, seafood and vegetable proteins as well as milk, yoghurt and cheese
3. Occasional intake of highly processed foods that are high in fat, salt and added sugars like biscuits, cakes, pies, processed meats, pizza, potato chips, sugar sweetened soft drinks, vitamin waters and energy drinks

So, what does being healthily active even mean? Here are some tips on how to encourage your children to choose healthy foods and to be more active more often.

Get Active

Increasing family based activities can provide quality time together when life is busy and also reduce screen time. Once you and your family have made the commitment to become active, the hardest part is sticking with it! The following are a list of strategies that you can use to keep motivated:

• If possible, exercise as a family, with friends or in a group. This can increase social interaction and motivate you to keep active regularly
• Recruit support from family and friends. Share goals and obtain support from their participation.
• Set realistic goals. Don’t put too much pressure on your child in the beginning. Goals that are too easy or too hard to achieve serve no purpose
• On that note, pick activities appropriate to your child's age to avoid them becoming bored or frustrated
• Choose an activity that your child enjoys! Finding enjoyment is half the battle with maintaining exercise. For example, if they don’t enjoy team sports, try other ways to be active such as swimming, cycling, dancing, skateboarding, walking the dog etc
• Reward them when they make progress. The type of reward can be extrinsic (external) but don’t forget the intrinsic (internal) rewards. For example:
  Extrinsic – “I will download a new song for my iPod if I complete all my activity sessions this week” or "I will play at the park after a bike ride"
  Intrinsic – “Daily activity helps to clear my head and gives me time to think” or "Walking together after school gives us time to talk to each other without interruption"
• Give regular feedback on their progress and use this as a source of information. It can be very useful and fun for kids to record the physical activity and/or number of steps each day

If your child proclaims they hate planned exercise, here are some fun activities to get them outside and moving:

• Go indoor rock-climbing
• Go rollerblading on a local bike path (don't forget the safety gear!)
• Do a high or low ropes courses
• Play Simon Says and incorporate body movements like "Simon says do 10 jumping jacks"
• Create make believe games and zoom around the backyard like superman
• Go to a Bounce trampoline centre
• Hula hoop
• Go to the local pool or aquatic centre and climb the stairs for the slide a few times
• Go to the park or local creek to catch butterflies or tadpoles
• Get a slip'n'slide or sprinkler to run through in the backyard
• Draw a hopscotch course on the footpath and get hoppin'
• Jump rope
• Throw a Frisbee
• Have a water balloon fight or get squirt guns to chase each other with
• Set up a treasure hunt where the items are far apart or go to a large zoo with a lot of walking between exhibits to get their step count up
• Fly kites
• Play follow the leader and climb over and under small obstacles or set up an obstacle source in the backyard
• Try golf or put-put
• Ask them to help with some yard work like pulling weeds, raking or moving small stones
• Play flashlight tag at night

Talking Nutrition with Children

Kids also need great nutrition. This is because the food they eat must fuel their activity and provide for healthy growth and development. Don't forget to check out our tips on how to encourage your children to choose healthy foods. Kids will naturally vary their intake based on their growth and development needs. Their intake will increase with age because they are laying down stores needed to fuel growth spurts. If your children are eating appropriately for their age, their growth and development will reflect this.

Sound Challenging?

• Make enjoying healthy meals part of your family ritual. It’s really hard for children to develop unhealthy eating habits all on their own. They are largely dependent on what is available to them so reviewing the household food stores and weekly menu can be a good starting point.
• Involve your children in the shopping and food preparation. This will increase their interest in the food they are eating. Kids like to eat food that they have chosen and help to prepare.
• Regular eating patterns are important too. Encourage starting the day with a healthy breakfast. Support your school’s focus on healthy nutrition by sticking to their healthy lunchbox guidelines.
• Keep dinners varied as no single food is essential and young palates can tire of the same taste quickly. Don’t give up on including foods that are not enjoyed at first. Foods can be offered up to 15-20 times before being accepted.
• A “good effort” is a good rule of thumb at dinner time. Kids are really good at responding to their appetite and it’s ok to leave some food on the plate! Avoid offering alternative choices to unfinished meals or rewarding eating a healthy dinner with high sugar rewards. This will only teach them that these treats are more desirable than healthy foods.
• Although highly processed foods are generally higher high in calories, fat, added sugars and salt, complete restriction can lead to these foods being viewed as “forbidden fruit”. It’s a good idea to include these sometimes and in small amounts.
• Keep in mind that childhood is the time when children learn. Providing your children with the opportunity to enjoy a variety of nutritious foods balanced with healthy and fun activity will increase the likelihood that they will have the skills to make healthy choices as adults.

Focus on Fun

Adopting a healthier lifestyle doesn’t have to sound daunting to the family. Being a positive role model is an important part of your children’s perception of food and exercise. To get them thinking positively about physical activity, use language like “I feel so good after going for a walk each night, would you like to start coming with me?”.

Try to avoid negative connotation about food like “You can’t leave the table until you eat all your vegetables”, as this language reinforces that vegetables are a chore or less desirable foods.

Overall, keep food and activity fun. Kids won't do something they don't enjoy.