1 February 2017

Can We Force Kids to Exercise?

Yesterday morning, my daughter Sophie approached me with her arms outstretched. “Can I have a hug, please, Mum?”

“Oh no, no!” I said backing away. “It’s far too hot to hug.”

“You have to hug us, Mum,” said Gemma-Rose with a grin. “That’s what mothers do. They always have to be available to hug their children.”

Yes, sometimes mothers have to do difficult things. I have to hug my children on a very hot and sticky Australian summer’s day.

I started episode 88 of my podcast with this story. And then I went on to talk about:

  • A place of last resort
  • Children that don’t seem to fit into the world
  • Earning coffee money
  • A trap door accident
  • Father and daughter time
  • Gym buddies
  • Video dance workouts
  • Encouraging kids to exercise
  • Forcing kids to do things
  • A perfect subscription for all the family
  • Christian running music
  • My Australia Day baby
  • An unschool science resource

I hope you’ll listen!

Show Notes

Dancing/Fitness

A blog post: A Doctor’s Waiting Room Education

A Youtube Channel: Refit Revolution

Music

Spotify

Father-Daughter Time

A Podcast: ep 7, Unschooling Children, a School Teacher Father, and Tea

Science

A blog post: Unschool Science

Lucinda Leo’s blog Navigating by Joy

A PDF ebook: Unschooling Science – Stories and Resources

Mental Health

My Mental Illness Series

Podcast music

Twombly by Podington Bear(CC BY-NC 3.0)

Images: I took these photos on Gemma-Rose’s 13th birthday. We celebrated her special day with a birthday breakfast picnic at a local national park. We’re going to return to this beautiful area, and walk along the 6 km path that connects five lakes. Maybe we’ll discover some locations we can use for future music videos.

READ  When Our Help and Strewing Are Rejected

So I’m wondering…

What’s your favourite way of exercising? Do you like waffles? And what’s the weather like at your place at the moment? 

Sue Elvis

I'm an Australian blogger, podcaster, and Youtuber. I write and speak about unschooling, parenting and family life. I'm also the author of the unschooling books 'Curious Unschoolers', 'Radical Unschool Love' and ‘The Unschool Challenge’. You'll find them on Amazon!

8 Comments

  1. I haven’t had the time recently to be able to visit your site so I haven’t seen the changes until today. Oh my it is so wonderful! I appreciate the new way it is put together and have been able to search and look around easier. Thank you for putting so much effort into sharing with us 🙂

    • Alissa,

      It’s lovely to see you on my new look blog! I’m glad you like what I have done. I still have to finish relabelling and reformatting some of my earlier posts, but things are mostly organised. Thank you so much for your kind feedback on my new design!

  2. I really enjoyed catching up with your latest podcasts this morning, Sue (well, nearly. You’ve published another one since then!). Thank you for recording them for us. Hearing you chatting as I walked our dogs really brightened up a grey winter’s day.

    I’m glad you mentioned the podcast you recorded with Imogen and Andy a couple of years ago. Somehow I’d missed that one. I’ve caught up now. 🙂 Thank you for mentioning my blog, too.

    The science e-book looks very professional and your content is as inspiring as ever!

    • Lucinda,

      I love the thought of sharing your walk on a grey winter’s day. I’m looking forward to listening to you while I walk Nora along the bush tracks. I hope you publish your podcast soon!

      Thank you for your kind words. I’m glad you like the science ebook. I rather like the article called Unscience School written by the brilliant Lucinda Leo!

  3. I think it’s about finding exercises that you enjoy and actually putting them as part of your weekly routine like taking walks to maybe take pictures as well, go to the park, play together, dance there are tons of basic dance videos doing it together makes it a memory and you all get exercise at the same time. And if your kids enjoy something you can explore that – a sport, a dance style and you might find them doing it themselves. Finding ways to make it less of a chore seems to be best like how some parents turn cleaning up into a game
    You can also talk about why exercise is important for physical, emotional and mental health.

    • Riley,

      Dance videos? Oh yes! We’ve tried some of these. There are some good Youtube exercise channels. You are so right about how we have to find ways to exercise that we enjoy. There are lots of options. Why do something that doesn’t excite us? And I’ve found that different kids like different forms of exercise.

      Why exercise is important for physical, emotional and mental health… Exercising is part of living a balanced life, maybe.

      Thank you so much for your suggestions. I’m glad you stopped by!

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