Thanks to Marnie Schwartz from Maisonette for helping me spread an important message. When I think about how to make this school year work, keeping kids active is my number one priority.
From the article, “Regular exercise helps kids sleep better and cope with pandemic stress, is associated with better test scores and academic success, is a part of maintaining a healthy weight, and even boosts your immune system.” Active kids even get better grades.
I know parents are over-stretched right now, I am overstretched too. But if we have to choose between missing a few zooms and staying active, in the long run I think kids who move will feel better (more fit, happier, and emotionally more stable).
So how do we tackle this? Practically pandemic exercise pods may be more helpful than pandemic academic pods. Kids are more active naturally with their peers. Of course, every exposure comes with risk, but I’d recommend prioritizing the exposures that do the most good to your family over those which are less necessary. If you can find a few kids ideally within the same classroom to regularly play with, it will help. Finding a time to get outside or finding space is also essential.
Kids should get 60 minutes a day for school aged children with at least some of that activities like jumping and climbing that build muscle in addition to cardiovascular activities (like running). For younger kids, the AAP advises to limit sedentary activity to know more than an hour. Read more in the article here.
In my book, I have a chapter about this topic and discuss the relative risk of different sports. I created this image to help parents rank order the various activities.
