Pregnancy and Exercise: By Harold Baldwin

 

Pregnancy and Exercise

By Harold Baldwin  |   August 14, 2009

I've obviously never been pregnant, but my wife has been a few times, and I have experienced it closely yet second hand. It's hard to continue to exercise as you had before pregnancy for many women, although I know some runners that ran into pretty late in their pregnancy. Here are three exercise activities that you can do during your pregnancy, of course with your doctor's permission!

Walking:
Walking is great exercise and some women walk right up until delivery. Although it's harder to walk when you've quickly gained quite a few pounds, it's low impact and easy to do. Make sure you walk with good posture, i.e. not hunched over as that will increase back pressure and the possibility of back pain. Your sense of balance will not be the same as before, so you may want to avoid uneven terrain, steep hills, and icy or snowy conditions.

Swimming and Water Workouts:
Walking can be very uncomfortable as you get late in you're pregnancy as it was for my wife every time. Swimming and water aerobics are great low impact exercises and you don't need to worry about your balance. Some pregnant women have commented that they were only comfortable in the water late in their pregnancies.

Prenatal Exercise Classes:
Some places offer exercise classes specifically for pregnant women. They may include low impact aerobics, yoga, and even weight training. These classes understandably tend to be very supportive.

Most women need to change their exercise routines at some point in their pregnancy. These are three options you can consider.

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Motivating Kids: By Donelle Mcinerney

 

The Love of Sport - Motivating Kids

By Donelle Mcinerney  |   June 23, 2010

A coach has the unenviable task of undertaking one of the most important roles in the development of a young child's perception and values that they place on physical activity and sport. 

The importance and passion that children should obtain from the benefits of physical activity are ingrained from their very first experiences in sport. It is essential that coaches maintain kids motivation levels well into their teens to ensure that they stay in sport or a form of physical activity. 

The chances of drop out rates decrease significantly if kids have that instilled habit of the importance of activity set in stone into adulthood.

How To Motivate Kids

One sure way to maintain the retention rate in all sports including individual sports is to create a team atmosphere - this provides cohesiveness and comradery.

At the start of each session give each kid a goal, 1 skill or technique to improve, if each kid achieves their 1 goal for the season, the team improves dramatically.

Make activities fun and challenging,
Ensure each training session has a goal,
Set short and long term objectives at the start of season and evaluate throughout the season make changes if needed,
Variety keeps kids coming back for more,
Creating a sense of belonging, everyone is important,
Continual feedback from the coach to every player,
Teach kids the skill of thinking and solving situations for themselves,
Create roles within your team, direct and reinforce the importance of these roles to the whole team, (captains, vice captains, equipment monitors, chief motivator).

A chief motivator is the kid that has the ability to inspire and congratulate others and is often not the captain. 

Each team has one of these, just observe the kids and then target the right kid and then teach them to be be the silent inspiration in the team: a pat on the back of a teammate during the game, a "well done" as they run past, a thumbs up. Mostly obscure gestures but very powerful in their acceptance.

Applaud even the smallest improvements in those less dominate players.

The smiles on the faces of young children after each training session should be enough to say they are loving it. Keep it fun and fulfilling.

Donelle has over 3 decades experiences in coaching and teaching teens in a wide range of sports and guiding many athletes to National Titles. Her involvement as a coach and mentor encompasses not only the physical side of a teens attributes, but also ensuring the embracement of the mental and emotional side of all her athletes lives.

For the latest information and guidance for all coaches and parents involved with children's/teens sport http://www.kidsgoingforgold.com.

How to Motivate Kids: By Susan L Paterson

 

The Sweet Taste of LOSING? How to Motivate Kids

By Susan L Paterson  |   August 10, 2012

She asked her son, "Did you do your best?"

He said, "Yes!"

She replied, "Then I'm proud of you."

And so began a pattern of copping out that would last his whole life.

What if children had parents who instead of asking, "Did you do your best?" asked, "Did you do whatever it takes?" Wouldn't that be a game changer?

It wasn't until I was in my 30's that I began reading books about financial freedom, going to weekend courses and listening to motivational speakers. They changed my thinking, my actions and the entire direction of my life. I wasn't alone in the crowd wondering, "Where was all this information my whole life?"

That is why - instead of letting my kids off the hook with an "as long as you do your best" cop-out, I want to get them thinking about doing "whatever it takes" early on in life! Instead of "if something is worth doing it's worth doing well" how about - "if I'm going to do something I'm going to do it at 100%."

We are in a day and age where kids are taught not to keep score so no one wins or loses. Heaven forbid a child should know the sting of loss. Children no longer repeat a grade because they "failed." That would harm their self-esteem. But when considering how to motivate kids - I believe we miss the mark by a long shot with this thinking.

How about instead of sheltering our children from the pain of losing we let each loss be a learning experience? While they're still in our care we can coach them in the life skill that losing doesn't have to be devastating. It's not something to be feared. We learn more when we fail at something than we do when we succeed the first try. Each risk isn't a win or lose situation. It's a win or LEARN situation. Kids today are being robbed of this opportunity! In protecting their self-esteem from knowing loss or failure we are also depriving them of any wins or great lessons learned to feel good about. And what if they hate losing so much that they push themselves to do whatever it takes to succeed the next time? So much the better.

As a parent I want so much more for my kids. I want them to know motivation and goal setting and planning for freedom at a younger age than I did. Dream out loud with your kids and dream huge! Ask them how they want to spend their time as adults. What does their future home look like? What are they driving? Who are their friends?

T. Harv Eker puts it so well when he says, "If you are willing to do only what's easy, life will be hard. But if you're willing to do what's hard, life will be easy." So teach them that they need to start forming good habits that lead to success now - habits of setting goals, finishing what they start, exercising integrity, and doing whatever it takes! And for goodness sake - let them lose sometimes! Better now while in the care of a loving parent than for it to hit them between the eyes later on in life with no life skills having been developed to cope with it.

Susan L. Paterson invites you to visit her website [http://communicationwithkids.com/]. If you wish parenting were simpler you'll love her blog. It's overflowing with "simple parent strategies" that will help improve your relationship with your kids. While you're there sign up for a free "simple parent strategy" to be e-mailed weekly to help simplify parenting.

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