One of the most precious gifts in life is to have or to be involved with a loving family. I have been very fortunate to have had a very strong family upbringing with my parents, brothers, uncles and aunts.

Growing up with exercise was so much fun especially when your father and uncles are all athletes, they were my super heroes.

Today we live in a society where children find time to prioritize video and computer games, junk food and sweets which makes them lazy. It is very sad to see and it is a growing concern that is haunting nearly every parent in the UK. So how can we change this? How do we try and engage our children into something they don’t want to do?

I have three beautiful children of the ages 13, 11 and 5. They, like other children want to try out different foods that their friends talk about at school i.e. Mc Donald’s and always seem to make an excuse when it’s skipping time with daddy in the back garden, or it`s family walk time in the woods close to where we live. I have tried to implement the importance of physical activity to them outside of school so it becomes an important part of their week that they simply do not miss. Luke my oldest son plays tennis regularly where a year ago it was a chore, now it has become a joy for him and for the first time this Saturday he played the sport as it should be played, to have fun! A lot of kids find sport all too competitive as playing is not enough but winning takes over.

There is nothing wrong with being competitive but at what cost? If children found exercise fun don`t you think they would want to do more of it? Implementing an exercise regime into their lifestyle provides them with a solid foundation in terms of stamina, strength, flexibility and coordination. This
becomes a gift as it will stay with them as they become teenagers and eventually adults. Young teenage boys need to channel their newly discovered testosterone into exercise so they can learn to deal with the aggression that building up inside them in terms of energy. Young teenage girls need
to do exactly the same to help deal with new found emotions they go through throughout their teenage years.

So this goes out to all parents out there, please get more involved with your children`s activity levels. They might hate you at first, but later on in life they will love you for it, this I promise you.