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Millions of kids have started the new school year and are excited to see their friends, meet their new teachers and get back to their favourite activities. However many kids won’t get enough of one of the biggest necessities for their overall development, health and wellbeing, which is their daily physical activity requirements. Whether it takes place in the sports hall, on the playground or in the classroom, physical activity plays a vital role in a child’s physical, social, emotional and academic development.

Fit For Sport, the UK’s leaders in engaging and educating children and young people through physical activity, have revealed that a shocking 79% of pupils measured through their Healthy Active Schools System (HASS) are failing to meet the recommended fitness levels for their age.

Getting kids active is vital for this generation due to the rise of technology, obesity, and health-related illness. Therefore, a stronger form of motivation needs to be created within children to ensure they are motivated to stay active throughout their life.

One of the most sought out skills in life, whether it is in sport, education, or work, is confidence. Specifically, being confident in your ability to perform a certain skill in sport will help increase the performance of the skill.

PRESS RELEASE: Children affected by the Grenfell Tower fire are being provided with free active fun throughout the school holidays.

Since the Grenfell fire, Fit For Sport, the UK’s leaders in engaging children through physical activity, have, and will continue to engage local children in fun activity during the holiday periods

There is no questioning that the importance of eating the right foods, cutting out high sugary snacks and reducing screen-time are all paramount to helping combat the rise in children’s health problems. However, we are in the deep midst of a childhood obesity crisis in the UK and the contributing factors are endless, but the importance of encouraging children to partake in more daily physical activity needs to be taken more seriously.

As parents, we try to encourage our children to be active but I am sure you also will be familiar with the frustration of hearing “just one more level” or “I’m right in the middle of snapchatting with Chloe!”

Clearly, the increasing popularity of screen devices and video games has been working against keeping kids active, hence the childhood obesity crisis that we as a country find ourselves in today. Nowadays many kids would rather spend their time snapchatting, instagraming & YouTubing than going outside to throw a ball or ride a bike.

When my four children were all engaged in after-school activities we had a rule that they could not participate in more than three activities per week as most teams require at least one practice session and one game a week which would be an almost impossible task to manage. We also had a rule that, if you started an activity, you had to see it through to the end of the term!

We let our children choose their activities, with the exception of swimming lessons, as we feel this is a basic life skill that we wanted our kids to have.