Although children have returned to their normal levels of physical activity pre pandemic, the World Health Organization recently reported kids are not moving enough to be considered healthy; during summer vacation kids lose up to 74 percent of cardiovascular fitness. With the laziest time of year for kids (summer break) upon us, have you thought about how your kids will stay busy as the temperatures go up?
There are an estimated 15 million summer-time latchkey kids (ages 5-12 who stay home alone) in the U.S. and you’d think that these kids would naturally be drawn to visiting the local pool or running around outside with friends. Instead, they use the summer to sit around and engage in obesity-related behaviors like watching TV, playing video games, eating sugar snacks and fewer vegetables according to a study from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
To help combat this problem, just about every professional sports organization has launched a campaign to promote healthy kids. But what if you can’t connect with one of them or live in an area where these programs don’t exist?
I recommend that parents take control of the situation and use these tips to put a plan in place that will keep kids active all summer long, make things easier on parents and cut down on that phrase parents dread to hear, “I’m bored”.
1. Communicate your expectations
Sit down with you kids and lay out a plan, as well as, what you expect. Clearly older kids will have more responsibility but that doesn’t mean the little ones get off easy.
2. Schools out for summer, no laying around
Kids need to be active everyday so don’t leave home projects, chores or personal activities for the weekends. Make sure there are a handful of projects to be completed everyday, including ones that help you like fixing dinner, doing dishes or laundry.
3. Build a “Busy Calendar” for the kids
Use a tool like BusyKid that can be your “Busy Calendar”. Each day kids can see what needs to be done and can click projects/activities one at a time. This will help teach them responsibility, accountability and time management.
4. Assign by strengths
Different kids are good at different things. Maybe one of your kids hates doing things outside. Maybe another loves the sunshine and fresh air. Besides assigning things by age, look at what they like doing and build the calendar from there.
5. Find balance
Make sure the “Busy Calendar” has a good balance of chores and fun. For every hour of chores, try to have one hour of another activity where your kids can enjoy themselves. After all, it’s their summer too.
6. Reward success
If all goes according to your plan, your kids will be moving around a bunch this summer and plenty of projects will be done. Make sure to reward them for working hard or staying with the plan. Paying an allowance is a great way to reward your kids and using BusyKid will help them learn how to save, spend and invest it wisely.
About Murset & BusyKid
The co-founder & CEO of BusyKid, Gregg is a groundbreaking inventor, father of six, certified financial planner and consultant who is a major advocate for sound parenting, child accountability and financial literacy. He was named Financial Educator of the Year in 2017 and is featured in hundreds of media stories each year promoting improved financial literacy in schools.
BusyKid helps children develop a healthy financial routine they can carry into adulthood. With the help of parents, children use BusyKid to get the hands-on experience in making various money decisions, including how much to save, share, spend and invest. With pre-loaded chores and allowance based on children’s ages, parents can easily set up any kid account, and in minutes, and kids can be earning money. Payday is each Friday after parents check the work to verify that it was completed and approve a notification on the phone to ok the transfer of funds. After getting paid, children can save some money, donate some and use the rest to get cash or learn how to invest in real stock. Every child also has a personal debit card to use while parents can follow all transactions. BusyKid is available via Apple Store and Google Play. For more information about BusyKid, visit http://www.busykid.com.