Encourage Kids to Choose Fun Physical Activities
Telling kids to unplug and get active triggers resistance.
The best way for parents to motivate kids to be active may be to emphasize a child’s feelings of choice, competence and social relatedness. Finnish researchers from the University of Jyväskylä conducted a study with 79 children ages 7–10 to assess how best to motivate them to be more active. The scientists concluded that psychological reactance (oppositional resistance) occurs when parents “demand” that children be active by coercively limiting screen time or by pressuring them into sports participation, which may lead to feelings of shame, embarrassment or even humiliation.
Instead, the best way to motivate kids is to provide a structured environment that supports being active and emphasizes positive feelings of autonomy, success in activities of interest and shared parental participation.
The findings are available in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2020; 17 [7], 2315).
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.
