Ideas for increasing 11 year olds fitness over the summer holidays when I am lazy

[Littlebittiredoflife]

As a family we love hanging out at home, doing things like playing Lego and reading. Summer holidays are always an excuse to dial down the rushing about but it always translates to many lazy days at home which I love. However I'm noticing my 11 yr old isn't as fit as their peers by quite a stretch so I wondered if anyone has some ideas for getting active over the summer that wouldn't feel like too much of chore. They do extra curricular activities, twice a week it is something quite active. However they used to do activities 3-4 times a week and obviously in summer there is no twice a week P.E. Even at the park they prefer to bring a book to read.

I do really struggle getting out of the house even by myself let alone with two children in tow- youngest is quite a bit younger and quite a bit fitter so can keep up with the older one. This often translates to rushing about and using the car more often than I would like to get to places or just staying at home and we have no garden so it feels like to get active we need to get up and ready and take drinks, snacks, spare clothes for youngest etc so it feels more of a mission. Would love to hear some ideas and work out how we can implement them over the summer!

See if there is a junior park run in the area? Trampoline parks, Clip and climb, swimming. We walk everywhere and I often take the kids out on their bikes. How old is your younger one? I find the secret to a good walk with kids is to have a destination (a wood, a beach, a cafe, the top of a hill) and also bring a good picnic with some things you might not ordinarily have or go to a cafe or get ice creams etc.

Long walks
Sign them up for active camps (football, circus skills, survival skills, multi sports)
Pokemon Go
Park Run
Geocaching

You know the answer to this, you need to lead by example.

Set a daily step count, I think around minimum 8-9k is good - get a smart watch or something and then ensure you get XX number of steps in a day, preferably involving some hills. If it's too difficult to get out every day, aim for an average of 8k per day over a week with some longer ones if you're having days off. I do find having a "reward" helps for longer walks - e.g. stop for a picnic or ice cream.

You keep a bag packed and ready to go by the door, when you get home you re pack it.

Get out early in the morning, unless either child or you have a disability it's not hard to get out in the morning, wash hands face and teeth, pull some shorts and t-shirts on, hair pulled back into a pony tail, get out and about then home for showers etc afterwards.

Couch 2 5k as a family,

Woodland or beach walks

Look for season passes for places like zoos which naturally means alot of walking.

Summer specific sports workshops ie local rugby clubs often do touch sessions for the whole family during the summer.
Fun sessions at swimming pools.

I sympathise DS was like this at that age and I tried all sorts of things to get him active (although COVID really didn't help).
What worked for him was:

1. training for a goal (DofE expedition) - we did long walks every night and got him a PT
2. finding something he was really into (he's just got into Bohurt at 16)
3. being allowed distraction during a walk, Pokémon go and being allowed to go on and on about his special interests whilst we walked were good.
4. buying long underpants which avoid thigh chafing while walking
5. comfortable shoes

What didn't work was swimming (he'd just stand around), standard playgrounds (he'd find a bench), C25K with me- we both hated it, karate with dad (dad was better at it and got annoyed with him for half arsing it), special 'active' trips out like go ape (unsustainable and too many ice creams and treats), loads of other things we tried to encourage which were unsustainable, team sports (he's dyspraxic, hate 'man' stuff and the low level of initial fitness was discouraging)

It's really hard - good luck!
DS is now fit and strong (but still overweight)

Thank you for the ideas. I need to get better at the bag packing, I used to this when they were babies. How often do people go for walks with their children- trying to get a sense of what is achievable? Unfortunately things like trampoline parks are a half hour drive away but we do have a local pool and they do like swimming so this could be an option.

It is hard for me to get to out, and I always feel super stressed and shout a lot to make them get ready, especially if it's for something they aren't keen on. I get the ideas of a treat but I feel this will just compound the problem in our case. They are already booked in for a few camp type things, I can't justify spending more on days I'm not working.

How do we geocache please? I have vaguely heard of it. Pokémon go would help too. Any other ideas for goals that I could use please other than treats!

Some holidays I do a 1 mile walk/scoot/bike ride with my daughter every day. That means over the course of August we’ll have done 31 miles - over a marathon! It only takes 15 or 20 mins, doesn’t need any preparation and feels very manageable.

You could even turn it into a charity fundraiser if you have friends and family who would support them.

Litter picking could be good if they are interested in environmental causes.

Pokemon Go is great, I got it for my daughter but got hooked myself!! The more you walk, the more eggs you can hatch and the bigger the weekly bonus.

Holiday clubs that do a range of different sports including some they may not have experienced before.

You could do dance / workout party with them every morning or afternoon in the living room.

Couch to 5k is a great idea. The app is free, and assuming your children and you already own some trainers you don’t need to buy any special equipment. Easy to get out of the door too - t shirts and shorts on, trainers on, out you go. You’ll be home in 30 mins so no need to take drinks or snacks or changes of clothes. An 11yo should be able to get to the 5k stage by the end of the summer holidays. And then parkrun once a week until they leave home!

Borrow my doggy - they may prefer it if there’s a dog involved.

Sone parks have orienteering trails. May make it more interesting.

Alot of towns have statues to find. Eg. Maidstone has a Shaun the Sheep trial.

Maybe establish a pattern that at 2pm everyday you’re going for a walk, come rain or shine.

Go for a walk. Set a timer for 15 minutes, and see how far you can go. See if you can go further each day. (15 minutes sounds like a short walk, so not arduous although obviously there’s the walk back as well)

How about you all put Joe what’s his name on YouTube every morning, the lockdown PE lessons he did? They seemed fun, and if you’ve started the day like this then doing another physical thing doesn’t seem too difficult. And he’s very child friendly and it won’t seem like hard work.

In fact, I might do it myself!

Do you have a local shop/post office? When we’ve had a moochy day I’ll invent an errand (get some carrots, post a letter) that I need to do immediately before the shops close and get them out with me on their scooters. Inevitably once they’re out they want to do more and we usually do a decent loop. Sometimes if they’re mithering to stay up later that works too, I say they can come for an evening walk with me, they do it just to get the extra time before bed!

Could you put on some kids yoga on you tube and all give that a go? You don’t need to pack a bag for that!

Last summer I did some treasure hunts around the house, the challenges were things I wrote on bits of paper, like ‘hop to the hall and look under the stairs’. I know it’s more effort but saved paying for more soft plays.

Are they old enough to know about climate change? You could set yourself a goal of not using the car for 2 weeks or a month (or sell it as the car needs a summer break) It will be hard work, but you'll all get lots of incidental exercise. Having to go to the shop 3 times in the week won't be very exciting, but it's an activity and carrying out home will be good for you all

We didn’t go to structured play centres but explored the country parks - which are near you? Download routes for local walks - no need to spend any money.

Take a friend - they'll be more motivated to do trips out if a mate is going.

Just walks are hard for kids. Research routes like country parks with playground, short walks in the country (2-3miles max) that take you via something fun to explore like caves/ruins/woods with good climbing trees/ streams you can paddle in.

If you know anyone with a tolerant dog arrange to borrow that for the odd walk.

As well as geocaching and Pokemon go download the seek app so you can identify any plants you see. Count birds, count bugs. Check out your local wildlife trust, they often have free events on for children in summer. Wherever you are there will be something amazing to see if you keep your eyes open.

Have a bag on hand with a basic first aid kit (not joking, walks are miserable after you have untreated nettle stings, insect bites etc), Sun cream, bottles of water, box of emergency Jaffa cakes and a small towel.

Focus on quality over distance covered. Did you get outside? Enjoy it? See anything interesting? The long game is giving your kids the confidence to enjoy getting out for life. Making them walk five miles with blisters is an excellent way to kill that off.

Don't worry about taking a book to the park. That sounds lovely. A walk to the park on a sunny day, chill out with a book, a picnic, maybe poke about looking for new wildflowers or new bugs or play Pokemon go. It's not the Olympics but it's building small bits of extra exercise into every day that will help them build healthy habits for life.

My 13yo has hit the idle wanna-be-a-pasty-gamer stage. Not helped by exhausting a lot of outdoor stuff to death then flogging it some more in the Covid years.

The National Trust and outdoor museums are quite good for sneaky movement time that doesn't feel like exercise, but that's basic movement rather than fitness.

Bike rides/ scooting are good.

You also need something that gives bursts of quicker movement- float swimming sessions, trampoline parks, ninja warrior type places are good, but can stack up for multiple children.

Junior parkrun is great, free and for ages 4-14. Many newbies run/ walk, but for an 11yo who isn't ready to run it all, you'd want to be sure that being further back with younger children wouldn't put them off. That said we have regulars of that age group that aren't bothered about pushing speed or opt for a walk some weeks.

Keep a bag ready for going out that has things like suncream, waterproofs in. Add lunches in as needed- they can be prepared the day before. I'm not above McBribery; it works well for DS. When we go to town, we park for free at a park a mile away and get a sneaky walk in that way.

What do you think is behind finding it so hard to get out?

Also came here to say junior parkrun, or couch to 5k and then parkrun as a family.

Look at whether there is a David Lloyd in your area doing a 2 week free trial.

Our nearest town is roughly 5 miles away. We quite often bike up there in the hols and I let them get a milkshake or something then we bike home again.
We will often go on 7-8mile walks on weekends as a family and they do junior park run. Sometimes adult park run too.
I take them to inflatables parks and regular parks, the beach, the woods, national trust places with gardens. We’re outside a lot and always take a packed lunch. It only takes 5 minutes if you’re organised

Leading by example is good. We've always been active with our two now teenagers, so that's always been their norm. But I recommend parkrun as it's for all abilities. Also cycling if you have bikes, less boring than walking for some kids. Running errands in town, taking them to parks, playing basketball, football etc with them. If there's a cafe in the park then a promise of a treat always works.

When mine were younger, my eldest was a curl up with a book type & my youngest was much more active.

I combined my eldests love of reading with activity. How far away is your local library? We would walk/scoot to the library for new books once a week in the summer holidays.

Then on another day of the week, we would head to a park that was a good walk away, that had one of the big circle/net style swings & he would tuck up on that with a book- but he walked there & back (we tended to do that early evening, when the park wasn't busy, so he could enjoy the swing without hogging it).

For rainy days we'd find a fun work out on YouTube & all get a bit silly & join in. They have all sorts, Harry Potter themed ones, Sonic the hedgehog, Mario etc...

Activity walks are also good, our local woods tend to have different ones, with interactive stations & boards to read.

We went for a little & often approach & that seemed enough.

Now he's off meeting friends all the time, hiking trips with them, exploring new cities etc.... and seems to do well enough, he's never going to be naturally sporty, but his stamina is fine.

I'm currently sitting in a climbing centre waiting for DD13 while she does 1.5hrs climbing training. Anything like that in your area? She's been doing it since very young, they gave clubs from 7 or even younger.

Can you buy a cheap bag and pack iy ready to go? Water bottles, raincoats, sun cream, wipes, plasters, snacks etc. Makes it so much easier. Put make up and sry shampoo in there too.

If you don't like going out, how about dancing at home, or skipping/playing football/running up and down stairs?