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!

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/50-things

This might give you a few ideas too

How about a local walk every night after dinner? You don't need to go anywhere as such, just local streets for 20 mins (or more) -- use the time to chat and reconnect and look at your local area. These are some of my fondest memories of my childhood. It was a summer staple. Exercise doesn't have to be a big thing requiring lots of planning and rucksacks etc

Thank you for all the inspiration- we've been out for a bit both days this weekend even though we had nothing planned. I think pp may believe we never just go for a walk to town or out for the day- we absolutely do usually 5/8 weekend days of a month we have a planned activity or errands to do but then on the other days I just want to stay at home in PJ's as we don't get to do it often. I didn't realise this was frowned upon. I have some lovely ideas for the Summer now.

Good luck with building healthier habits in diet and activity - it's not an easy thing to start with, and can be harder if your child perceives it as an attempt to change them.

Are any of their fitter peers doing sports or activities your child can join in with? Do their friends live locally, and are they independent enough to go out for the day / part of the day with their friends? Can they run errands for you and pick up some milk / whatever from the local shops?

It's only frowned upon by a very small number of people! Honestly, nearly everyone needs (and enjoys) downtime at home. If you'd posted saying "we've got five activities planned every day of the summer!" I GUARANTEE you would have had a hundred posters telling you your children need to learn to be bored, give them the gift of imagination and self reliance by letting them just potter about at home in their PJs... 😂

(I let my 8year old stay home today while the littler ones went out with their dad. He's had a great day chilling out, I got some jobs done in the garden. Win win. He'll be back to running around tomorrow, I'm sure)

Well done on taking the first step, the more used to it you get, the less stressful it becomes. Even if they don't get super fit, if you can pass on the mentality that doing things is not a stressful, big deal - they'll be better prepared for all the fun things that come their way in life.

I can't relate to the way you talk about going out, it reads borderline agoraphobic and unusual. It's going to be great for all of you to get past this hurdle. Feeling you can't go out is so much worse than getting temporarily a bit wet or hungry while you're out. Try to drop the stressful planning, it will be freeing.

Even when my kids were quite young, they had to come out with the dog and I never packed them a bag for it. Nobody will die without a water bottle/snack/raincoat etc in the woods or park for 90 minutes.

Your day will come!
Once you have teens they'll be out and about with their own friends and you can stay home and potter and read. For me, that is far and away the best thing about teenagers!

I have a teen who is happy to curl up as well

I do go out, I work three days a week, go out with friends around twice a month, go to an exercise class once or twice a week, library trip twice a month, half of the school runs, take DC to 2/4 of their clubs plus as said above probably about 5/8 weekend days going out for planned activities or weekends away. But doing all that takes a lot of effort on my part, so when we don't have something planned I love to stay in and so to dc now. I find it really hard going out of an evening when it's planned, going out unplanned is almost impossible! I did CBT a long time ago but was told usually people with anxiety and depression don't do as much as me, so who knows what that was supposed to mean for me.

Also is it normal to take 1.5-2 hours to be ready to go out from breakfast to being dressed to go- no one even showered and I didn't pack any bags? This was breakfast (admittedly porridge with chopped fruit), getting dressed, cleaning teeth, washing faces and toilet.

Go blackberry picking it's free.

I remember my DS putting on weight after year 6 during the summer

He lost it all within a couple of weeks of walking to school and back daily 35 mins each way

We often liked going to park later in the day early evening so we'd have most of the swings etc to ourselves when they were in primary school

Also worth signing them up to summer camps in local schools

It takes me an hour and a half to get out for work every day without small kids! I wouldn't sweat it. It doesn't really matter if you leave the house at 10 or 2, unless there's a deadline.

Maybe that's one of the chilling bits you're missing. Very lazy pyjama breakfasts and a slow start tick the chilling around the house box in our family because no one's running for the train or school bus or fighting for the bathroom. Chilling doesn't need to be a scheduled full day activity

1.5 hours seems normal to be, get up at 7 am leave at 8:30 - it's what most people do.
There are places to speed up though.

You called your self lazy which is what alot of people have commented based on but you sound fairly busy otherwise.

We live by the sea so the back of my car always has the body boards / wet suits/ towels and sun cream so we can just literally go at any time of day.
You can do the same, getting bags ready the night before and repacking them as soon as you are home so they are ready you just need to add your purse and phone and go.

Even have specific venue bags - so in a park bag keep a picnic blanket, frisbee, football, mini first aid kit with plasters and wound wipes, bottle of water and some cereal bars and other suitable snacks, book for you.

Swimming bag packed with everyone's costume,goggles, towel, bottle of water, locker coin and cereal bars.

Time in the morning is wasted looking for things, ironing etc and there's plenty of scope to tighten that up by just sorting it the night before and having things in particular places, keys, sun cream etc. For me most time is taken because I wash, dry and straighten my hair everyday - I could easily save myself 30 mins if I was happy to go out with my hair in a pony tail looking a bit Hermione Granger first year at Hogwarts.
if you are getting out to do something active that your going to get sweaty at anyway then a quick wipe over with a flannel and pull your clothes on and job done.

Also in our house we either get up and out early in the summer, or in the evening. We tend to split the day in 3 (morning, afternoon, evening) and do something in 2 of the slots. My DD much prefers going out in the evening in the summer as it's not as bright or hot.

Bubbles and balloons always lead to a lot of running around without it feeling like exercise. Clip and climb type places, trampoline park with friends, swimming with friends. These are more fun but will build fitness.

Are there any places they could try a more unusual sport such as paddle boarding or canoeing?

Is there any neurodiversity? People with adhd, for example, can struggle to transition from one activity to another. Masking that and doing lots of activities may mean you need extra chilled time.

Once you're out (the hard bit, for some people), how about packing the day with multiple things, then chill at home for a few days?

Not diagnosed but pp suggesting having a chilled morning at home and planning to go out later makes no sense to me because I can relax if there's something on later. I do feel it's more of a depression/anxiety thing for me. For example, I can't relax tonight knowing I have work tomorrow and won't be able to relax until Thursday evening and even then only slightly due to school run on Friday. Friday night is for relaxing but not if we have a day out planned for Saturday. I don't know how I'd change any of this it's just how I feel.