When it looks like exercise, smells like exercise, and tastes like exercise, it’s
probably exercise. You won’t fool your child by taking an inherently boring
activity — say, running on a treadmill or swimming laps — and repackaging
it by calling it a game. The point is to actually play a game (soccer, say, or
sharks-and-minnows) with your child and dispense with adult ideas about
exercise. You may enjoy power walking, but your child probably won’t;
instead, you can both build strength and become more energized by playing
a game of duck, duck, goose with you and the neighborhood kids.Focus on fun, and you and your child will both get a great workout in the
process. Don’t worry about technique or pace; instead, just keep moving and
having fun. If your child tires after 10 or 15 minutes, that’s okay; you and your
child may be able to get in three 15-minute, no-pressure game-playing sessions
every day, and when totaled, that’s an impressive amount of exercise for
both of you.Although you can certainly suggest games and activities, let your toddler
have the final word on which activity you choose. You may end up playing
hopscotch every day for a month, but if you force your desires and expecta-
tions on your child, you risk suffocating her natural love of activity. Let her
call the shots, and you can just go along for the ride.Finding Time with Your Preteen
As your child grows, playing becomes less “cool.” In elementary school,
many kids take three recess breaks; by middle school, this drops to one or
even zero. Hanging out at the mall with friends, not jumping rope on the play-
ground, is the order of the day. So, how do you get your tween to exercise?The answer lies in how you present exercise to your child. If you say, “Come
on, sweetie, let’s go run for 40 minutes in 30-degree weather,” your kid is
likely to run to the house of a friend whose parents stock entire boxes of
Hostess Ding-Dongs. The trick with tweens is the following:Make it fun, not drudgery.Let your child choose the activity you’ll do
together and just go along for the ride. Have some suggestions in mind,
however, so that you don’t spend half an hour trying to decide how to
spend your half-hour exercise session together.Make it cool.The definition of cool depends on your child, so ask. You
may even want to seek your child’s advice on how to dress for your
workouts, just so you don’t mortify him if his friends see you together.342 Part VII: Exercising for All Ages and Stages