How to ‘make’ reception age child do an club/class

[0verth1inker]

We had the reception age check up and I had a letter saying DC is overweight/obese (high BMI). I met with the school nurse and we are having a bit of an overhaul of our eating as a family although generally she does eat v healthy home cooked food. We are going to adjust portions etc.

The nurse suggested DC starting a club or an activity which is more active to encourage her weight to plateau. I am totally on board with this, we have adjusted our budget to accommodate a weekly activity and now looking to book (she already does swimming).

However…she doesn’t want to. She doesn’t want to do dance, football, rugby… there’s a local gymnastics class with one spot left which would be brilliant but she’s just saying no she doesn’t want to. She’s very active, we walk a lot on weekends, decent walk to school and back, cycle lots so she isn’t lazy. I don’t know if it’s nerves joining a group where she doesn’t know anyone. She says she’s tired after school (which she is tbf) but a lot of clubs don’t run at the weekend. Football and rugby are at the weekend but those are a definite NO from her and I think she’d prefer gymnastics especially in winter!

Does anyone have any advice- do I just say you’re going, take her and hope she loves it and gets into it? Keep looking for other clubs (it’s a small town so limited options!).

I just want to do the right thing for my daughter and stop her being an overweight/unhealthy adult. I feel v guilty about it all but also feel motivated to make positive change. Please be kind.

My DS would never have gone to any clubs if left to his own devices, we have always had to make him for the first few weeks then he gets to love it eventually. Only one club has he come out of first time and claimed to love it (and he quit a few weeks later). He is 8 now and does two clubs and loves both.

Most offer taster sessions so just take her along and see how it goes.

I wouldn't make a child do a club. School alone can be quite overwhleming in reception.

I'd go to the park after school or a cycle etc instead. Don't get hung up that it has to be a "club.
Also the worst thing would be to draw attention to the fact she might be bigger. It will probably even out if you make some small changes at that age.

I wouldn't force anything. I wouldn't worry too much about her weight either at this age. Just concentrate on as healthy a lifestyle as possible, which are lessons and habits to take through her life. My children were always chunky when they were young between growth spurts. Too many young girls at my DD's primary school were discussing cutting out potato etc to loose weight from year 3/4 onwards. These bmi checks do more harm than good.

If she does swimming and is generally active then I don’t think it’s a great idea to force her to do something else. Does she have a bike, or enjoy ice or roller skating? Do you have a bouldering centre nearby? Could you just do some activities as a family rather than sending her to an organized class? Not all kids are keen on group activities or lessons and if you make a big thing of it you might put her off being more active.

If you read the book 'why we eat too much ' you'll see that the types of food you eat are really key in controlling your weight so actually a class a week won't impact their weight much, so I would focus on reducing wheat, sugar and processed foods ( rice and potatoes fine though, as are high fat dairy). What about just taking them to fun stuff like trampolining, great parks, bike rides, swimming etc for fitness rather than weight loss. Also look up gut health, emerging science but would consider adding fermented foods such as kefir to diets

Thanks all. I don’t want to make a big deal of it at all and haven’t mentioned the health check regarding the clubs- more like ‘hey lots of kids your age do clubs would you like to try one?’. I definitely don’t want her to be anxious about her weight etc. likewise with the slight changes to diet it won’t be anything major or anything she will notice hopefully.
It’s tricky going to the park after school as it’s already dark, cold and often wet (we are v far north!) but I will try.

A lot of young children don't really have a clue as to what an activity involves. Maybe try a multi activity session during the school holidays and see what she enjoys or sign up to Beavers where they do different things each week.

If she does all that activity, one extra hour or so a week isn't going to make a great deal of difference.
Maybe do a bit more of what you are doing, another swim or dog walk.
Its the food that will make the difference.

You said she does swimming already. Could you go for a weekly family swim, too? Or just a her and you swim if that would make it more special for her?

My DD wanted to go to after school clubs, year 1 football all she did was run in circles round the playground, year 2 gymnastics she could sort of do a forward roll by the end of term. She had to go.

It sounds like you live a pretty active lifestyle already given that she does swimming already and you guys go out walking etc.

What do you normally eat at home - you say you're overhauling this? And looking at portions is good too.

From what I've heard BMI isn't really that good of a measure as it doesn't measure body fat - people who have high percentages of muscle can have high bmi's and those with small frames but large amounts of body fat can appear to have normal BMI's so I wouldn't take it as a direct measure of how healthy she is etc unless she's obviously overweight (not in a rude way!)

How do you feel about it all?

Your dd is really little. School was tiring to start with for my dd despite having far more energy than most of the girls in her class. She already does swimming. So that’s an activity in itself. Plus she’s active with you.

My dd had so much energy and I didn’t so couldn’t do the active stuff you do but we used to play PE at home - she made the game up. I’d get her to do stuff around the house - running, squats, walking backwards, giant steps etc etc. Wrap up warm, go for walks around different parts of the neighbourhood spotting Christmas lights, you could make a counting game up or similar to go with it etc.

She will probably LOVE doing active stuff with you. Eg swimming together, roller skating at an indoor centre etc. Reception age, they just adore being with their parents.

Is there anything at school straight after school she can try? Can be easier to go straight into it and staff will be no nonsense about it if she’s signed up

What about saving the money and taking her and a friend to am indoor play centre every other week. She can run around for an hour or so after school instead of a structured club.

If it’s just for a bit more exercise would she do swimming twice a week? (Is the swimming now lessons?) it’s probably more exercise than most sports at this age & she’s already familiar with it so won’t have the nerves about doing a new thing.

Weight is entirely about diet so I wouldn’t bother, especially as you’ve said you already have an active lifestyle (which is much better than one hour of sporting activity once a week!)

Sort out the diet and she’ll be fine.

Clubs have always been a disaster here (SEN) bar swimming lessons so we try and do all the usual stuff that you're already doing and as a family, do 1 thing at the weekend e.g. family swim, climbing, big walk on the moors, a sea swim, kayak etc. He's older now so getting into golf and tennis with DH too.

My 6yo does gymnastics at school. And park for an hour 1-3 times a week.
We do a NT property every other weekend.
Maybe aim for an afterschool sport club in the summer term.
If shes overweight she will get more tired and struggle to run during pe.
We did a tobboganning party in y1 with dc1 and the overweight child couldnt carry their own sled.

If the aim is to do more activity, then I agree with others that doing this with family could work if she isn't keen on joining clubs at the moment.

Aside from the aforementioned swimming, bouldering or indoor climbing are good suggestions and the latter could lead to her getting involved in a club or group if she enjoys it.

Or video workouts together at home?

I was anxious because dc didn't do any clubs at reception age but honestly they were so tired by the end of school I think anything on top would've been counter productive.
Focusing on food is a better idea for now - there is plenty of time for clubs in future years, i think!

My reception aged child has just began karate

They don't really join in yet as they're a very anxious child but they like it so I'll just keep taking them

Have you thought about any kind of martial art that may be fun? I know there's lots of groups for smaller children such as kungfu cubs etc

Can you do an activity together? In case she's anxious about joining a club where she doesn't know anyone. At that age I did a free play at the gym club with my DD, which meant lots of running around together, jumping on trampoline and stuff, but all inside so winter weather didn't affect it.

Something else that’s actually good exercise & fun is just dance - if you haven’t got on a second hand Wii is about £40( cheaper than a term of clubs) you can do 20 minutes a day & she gets to have a giggle at mum & dad doing bad dancing! It’s really just a more child friend version of an exercise dvd (there are quite a few sporty games for it too)

A lot of clubs in my area do a taster session so that might be an idea, you could try a few different things and see if anything sticks.