Motivating kids to stay active during the lockdown

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But it’s not just about getting the heart rate up: Macquarie University's senior lecturer in educational studies and adviser on quality physical education to UNESCO, Dr Dean Dudley, says that now is a good time for people to rethink what meaningful activity is to them.

“We should be thinking more broadly about connectivity and what sort of movements address our well-being,” he says.

“Whether that’s reflective activities like yoga, mindfulness, or learning new skills such as cooking, growing food, digging holes, food preparation or gardening, we should be teaching our adolescents to develop skills that will take them through life.”

 

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He says that Australians generally focus too heavily on organised sport and participating in group activities, which are not the “movement genres we participate in on a daily basis as adults”.

“We seem to think we can only stay healthy and motivated if we have a personal trainer or play as part of a sports team … but those things don’t set us up for lifelong physical activity,” Dr Dudley says.