Article by Liane Blyn

As a parent, fitness is one of the most important responsibilities that you are charged with for your child. Kid fitness is something that you need to be concerned about every day, as your child is much more likely to be overweight and suffer with health issues than he or she ever was in years past.

With so many artificial foods, computer games that replace exercise, and entertainment media so easily accessible, you will find helping your child remain fit can be challenging. However, start young and you’ll help them avoid many problems in the future and as you’ll see from this list boost their enjoyment of life and even make them better students in class.

Here are some of the reasons that kid fitness is so important for your child:

1. Obesity is something most parents are concerned about, and exercise is one of the best ways to prevent children from becoming obese. Obesity often leads to further problems, such as heart disease and diabetes. Preventing your child from becoming obese by encouraging him or her to do exercise is the best way to teach them about living a healthy lifestyle.

2. Being in shape reduces the risk of heart disease and other health challenges. Much of the food that your child eats will contain cholesterol and ingredients that could cause hypertension when they get older. With the right diet and starting to exercise at a young age, they will start taking steps to prevent heart problems as they grow.

3. Surprisingly, exercise and kid fitness is directly related to intelligence and scholastic performance. Exercise stimulates the flow of blood throughout the body, and improved blood flow leads to enhanced brain function. The more blood rushing to your child’s brain, the healthier the brain will be. Exercise also stimulates the natural production of hormones and balances out the endocrine system, thus helping your child to be calmer and more focused when sitting in the classroom.

4. Higher self-esteem is another benefit of a child’s fitness program. When children feel like they have no skills or talents, they tend to develop low self-esteem. However, by enrolling your child in a regular exercise program, you help them to realize they’re faster, stronger, or better at some activity than others, and thus their self-esteem and self-confidence is boosted. If you’re concerned your child will suffer from low self-confidence, enroll them in a kids fitness, sports, or martial arts course and see how they blossom.

5.Enhance your child’s social skills as they interact with other children. Even participating in simple sports helps children develop team working skills, learn character building lessons, and observe things that will help them to develop morally and socially as they grow. They learn how to build camaraderie, how certain things tear down a good team, and how to solve problems without resorting to violence or anger.

6. A fitness program is incredibly motivational for your child, as you will find he or she will feel better about themselves as they occupy their time with activities. Children that spend too much time sitting on the couch or computer will often find themselves looking for new entertainment to fill their time, but children that are outside of the house and doing activities will usually find that they look for new outside activities to fill their time. By enrolling your child in soccer class, fitness training boot camp, or martial arts lessons, you teach them the motivational lesson that developing their skills is one of the most important things they will need to do as they grow older.

Starting a fitness program for your kid while everything is a new adventure to them will be a lifetime gift to their health you can provide to them now.