One of the most unpleasant things about being a parent is having to nag your child about things they find difficult, but at the same time we adults have a responsibility to ensure that our children are happy. That’s why we wanted to take the opportunity before the summer to list things that can make exercise more appealing and fun,” says Pelle M\u00f6ller, CEO of JumpYard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the Public Health Agency of Sweden, children and young people should be physically active for at least 60 minutes a day. The report \u201dSchool kids’ health habits<\/a>\u201d released every four years shows that this is rarely the case. If we add up the number of 11-year-old girls and boys in Sweden who reach the targets, the proportion is 19 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Physical activity is defined in the Public Health Agency of Sweden report as “any activity that makes your heart beat faster and sometimes makes you short of breath.” The recommendation applies to children aged 5-17 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Drawing on its experience in designing activity parks that get children moving, JumpYard has developed a list of tips on how adults can make it easier for children to choose physical activity more often. The tips include listening to the child and having fun together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Children want to be with their adults. So instead of saying “Put the screen away now!” for the hundredth time, it usually works to suggest something to do together. Exercise doesn’t have to mean hard training where you have to change and shower afterwards, it can just as well be play with a lot of movement in it, says Pelle M\u00f6ller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Five tips to get kids moving<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Focus on fun The survey defines physical activity as: Facts about JumpYard<\/strong> The company also has parks in Denmark, Norway, Portugal and Spain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In total, 1.1 million hours of jumping are carried out per year in JumpYards parks in Sweden and 1.7 million hours if all parks are included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company has around 750 employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since 2020, JumpYard has been part of the Generation Pep network, which works to get more children moving<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How to help them get moving:
<\/strong>Since the best movement is the one that gets done, it is important that moving is fun. Therefore, try to avoid talking about ‘musts’ and ‘shoulds’, and focus on activities that both you and your child find enjoyable.\u00a0
2. Planning movement into your daily life
<\/strong>If we don’t actively plan for movement, it’s easy to get stuck at the screen. Help your child make movement a part of every day. Can you cycle or walk instead of travelling by car or bus? Are there stairs to choose instead of a lift?
3. Say yes
<\/strong>Play together. Whether your child wants to shoot football penalties or play tag in the forest, join in. Practise saying yes to what your child suggests, even if it doesn’t follow traditional rules or what you have in mind.
4. Let it get messy
<\/strong>Happy children move and children are happy to move, so it can easily get a little wild, loud and messy. Try to focus on the play in the moment and take care of the cleaning later. If you are crowded inside, go outside.
5. Take ownership of the activity
<\/strong>With today’s distractions and apps designed to grab their attention, it’s no wonder children are opting out of movement. Show that you understand, but also explain that it is your adult responsibility to make sure they get enough exercise. And if you do move, show it, because children don’t do what we say, they do what we do.
For more information
<\/strong>Pelle M\u00f6ller, CEO, JumpYard,\u00a0pelle@jumpyard.se<\/a>
Facts:\u00a0About the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s School Kids’ Health Habits Survey
<\/strong>The figure on the proportion of children who are active according to the recommendation is taken from the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s report \u201dSchool kid’s health habits<\/a>\u201d which arrived in May. It is a survey of 11, 13 and 15 year olds.
The aim of the Schoolchildren’s Health Behaviour study is to see how children and young people’s living conditions, lifestyles and health look and develop over time. The survey is international and is conducted every four years in around 50 countries in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Any activity that makes your heart beat faster and sometimes leaves you breathless. Physical activity can be done in sports, in different activities at school, when playing with friends or when walking to school. Some examples of physical activity are running, brisk walking, skating or rollerblading, swimming, playing football, cycling or dancing.
This is followed by the question “How many days have you been physically active for a total of at least 60 minutes a day in the last 7 days? Please add up all the time you are physically active each day.”<\/p>\n\n\n\nCounty<\/strong><\/td> Percentage of 11-year-olds who are active for at least 60 minutes a day<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> Blekinge<\/strong><\/td> 16 %<\/td><\/tr> Dalarna<\/strong><\/td> 20 %<\/td><\/tr> Gotland<\/strong><\/td> 18 %<\/td><\/tr> G\u00e4vleborg<\/strong><\/td> 21 %<\/td><\/tr> Halland<\/strong><\/td> 22 %<\/td><\/tr> J\u00e4mtland<\/strong><\/td> 21 %<\/td><\/tr> J\u00f6nk\u00f6pings county<\/strong><\/td> 18 %<\/td><\/tr> Kalmar county<\/strong><\/td> 24 %<\/td><\/tr> Kronoberg<\/strong><\/td> 17 %<\/td><\/tr> Norrbotten<\/strong><\/td> 20 %<\/td><\/tr> Sk\u00e5ne<\/strong><\/td> 21 %<\/td><\/tr> Stockholms county<\/strong><\/td> 20 %<\/td><\/tr> S\u00f6dermanland<\/strong><\/td> 16 %<\/td><\/tr> Uppsala county<\/strong><\/td> 19 %<\/td><\/tr> V\u00e4rmland<\/strong><\/td> 19 %<\/td><\/tr> V\u00e4sterbotten<\/strong><\/td> 16 %<\/td><\/tr> V\u00e4sternorrland<\/strong><\/td> 21 %<\/td><\/tr> V\u00e4stmanland<\/strong><\/td> 17 %<\/td><\/tr> V\u00e4stra G\u00f6taland<\/strong><\/td> 19 %<\/td><\/tr> \u00d6rebro county<\/strong><\/td> 18 %<\/td><\/tr> \u00d6sterg\u00f6tland<\/strong><\/td> 18 %<\/td><\/tr> Sweden<\/strong><\/td> 19 %<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
In the Schoolchildren’s Health Habits survey, girls’ and boys’ physical activity is only reported separately. The calculation for all children has been made using Statistics Sweden’s population statistics from December 2021. By calculating how many 11-year-old girls and 11-year-old boys move at least 60 minutes per day in each county and then combining the two groups, we have produced an overall percentage that corresponds to the proportion of 11-year-olds per county who move enough in relation to the recommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
JumpYard has 11 parks in Sweden: Barkarby, Gothenburg, Helsingborg, Karlstad, Kristianstad, Link\u00f6ping, Nacka, Sk\u00f6vde, V\u00e4ster\u00e5s, \u00c5re, \u00d6rebro. Parks will soon open in Norrk\u00f6ping and Kungsbacka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nOnly 19 per cent of Sweden’s 11-year-olds are active, in line with the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s recommendation of 60 minutes of daily movement. JumpYard has developed five tips to help adults get children moving. Doing fun things together with the child instead of nagging is a key.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-trends"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jumpyard.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jumpyard.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jumpyard.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jumpyard.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jumpyard.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1565"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jumpyard.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1570,"href":"https:\/\/jumpyard.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions\/1570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jumpyard.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jumpyard.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jumpyard.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jumpyard.se\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}