Are You Encouraging Your Son to Be Active More Than Your Daughter?
Equitable support from parents can help close the gap in physical activity between girls and boys.
By Michael O. Schroeder, Staff Writer | Aug. 24, 2017, at 10:14 a.m.
Parents should encourage kids to be themselves and, starting from a young age, to play outside. (Getty Images)
Many factors influence how much kids move. These can range from opportunities they have to be active – including unstructured play and organized sports – to the confidence kids have in their physical abilities, as well as social cues, like whether a child feels encouraged to run and jump and play.
Along those lines, the support children receive to be active can have a significant impact on whether they meet physical activity guidelines that recommend kids and adolescents engage in an hour or more of activity a day. That includes parental encouragement to be active as well as driving kids to sport practices and watching their games. But research finds that often the support kids receive from parents to be physically active is lopsided – with boys getting more support than girls. Experts say this may be one of the reasons girls tend be less physically active than boys.
http://health.usnews.com/wellness/family/articles/2017-08-24/are-you-encouraging-your-son-to-be-active-more-than-your-daughter
