The Most Effective Way To Get Your Child To Love Exercise...

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Studies conclusively show that there is one thing parents can do to get their children to exercise- and that is to exercise themselves. Children of active parents are much more likely to be active than children of more sedentary parents. Let your children see that you enjoy exercise. And if you don't love to break a sweat? Fake it... You don't want your children to think of exercise as a chore or a burden. It should be fun. If you don't like to run, find other activities that you do enjoy.

My husband and I love to go for long bike rides together. We hop on our bikes (with helmets, of course) and explore nearby neighborhoods. It is great exercise and great 'alone' time for us. Now that our children are getting older, they beg to come riding with us. So now we often go to a local park and ride bicycles as a family. You have no idea how cute our two year old looks on her tricycle! Sometimes Doug and I will rollerblade or run while our children ride. Zachary (our five year old) loves to have races- I run while he rides his bike. No matter how fast I run (and believe me, I am competitive enough that I try to win with all my might), he always wins. It is wonderful for his self-confidence.

I love to run- and the kids also want to try to run with me. So when I come back from a long run, I will take the kids and we will all run around the block together. They tend to tire out quickly, but I love the fact that they see running with mommy as a treat. Zachary used to run half a block with me and now he runs two blocks. As he gets older, that distance will keep increasing until my own running buddy!

Truthfully, I used to hate exercise. I never exercised in high school. When I got to college, one of my roommates was an all-national lacrosse and field hockey player- (hi Lisa!). She was my exercise inspiration. I began to exercise to become as lean as she was. She would take me running and I would curse the entire time. She even took me to the lacrosse field- but when she saw my awkward attempts at holding the lacrosse stick, she quickly dropped that idea and we went back to running. At first, I didn't like to run. Then I met two girls (hi Kara and Jessica!) who were aerobics instructors (while still attending Princeton). They took me to a few aerobics classes and I fell in love. I loved the camaraderie of the class, the pulsating loud music, and the feeling of my heart racing in my chest. I took more and more classes- and eventually became an instructor myself. Once I was in better shape, Lisa and I gave running another try- and I loved it. I can't thank these girls enough. By observing them, I learned that exercise could be fun- exactly like what I am asking you to do for your children. These girls have remained my life-long friends and were all bridesmaids at my wedding. To this day, they are some of my closest confidantes.

The bottom line is that children need to see that you value exercise and think of it as fun. If they see you moaning and groaning every time you put your sneakers on, they will not want to try it themselves. Even worse, if they see you lying on the couch and not exercising, they will learn that exercise is not important enough to even try. So go lace up those sneakers and get moving!