The Role of Motivation in Children's Physical Activity

Introduction

Maintaining cardio respiratory and muscular fitness is the major benefits of doing daily physical activities and there are other benefits of doing physical activities such as reduction of the symptoms of depression and anxiety, increasing the metabolic health biomarkers, and improving bone health as well as doing physical activities also improve the mental health of the children in long run (The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP), 2012). The majority of the activities must be related to aerobics where the vigorous intensity activities is also necessary to be designed on a regular basis and these are effective for strengthening the muscles and bone of the children (WHO, 2010). If there are health issues among the children in doing the physical activities, it is mandatory to support them with minimal exercise and physical activities and it further increases the frequency, duration to meet the guidelines of the WHO and intensity gradually over the period of time (Pate et al., 2016). The WHO guideline is beneficial for motivating the individuals in the society. The social communities and government try to be collaborative and design the physical activities and education for the benefits of the young generation. There are several barriers for which the physical activities among the children become lowers and it has adverse impacts on the physical and mental health condition of the children. the evolving technology, computer gaming, Smartphone games, online cartoon and activities as well as long hours of work of the parents are the major barriers for which the children get less attention and time to improve their daily activities (Pate et al., 2016). They spend a lot of time n computer gaming and smart phones, which is not good for their health and brain development. The parents also fail to convey the message to the children about the necessities and benefits of doing daily physical activities, for which there is lack of activity in raising awareness about increasing the physical activities among the children. Without effective guidelines, lack of support and activities, the children fail to take active part in the physical activities (Martin & Murtagh, 2015). It is mandatory to design the program related to the physical education and exercise to increase awareness among the children and the parents and also engage the parents in the program so that they can encourage the children for doing physical activities on a regular basis to improve their standard of living (Martin & Murtagh, 2015). In the Swedish study of Sollerhed & Ejlertsson (2007), increasing the physical activities exercises program does not require a lump sum amount to be invested rather it leads to physical and mental health development among the children. There is no such additional cost to education for the physical activities and thus incorporating the activities tools and strategies to design he physical education program is also the responsibility of the teaching professionals and school authorities to encourage the children for taking active part in the daily physical activities. It further helps to improve skill and knowledge of the children as well as reduce their weight and make them more active in their daily lives. Irish study Martin & Murtagh (2015) revealed that, 8 minutes of MVPA during the English and Mathematics lessons is also another major strategy to promote daily physical activities among the children through different interesting activities and enjoyment of all the days at the primary schools. With effective time tackle and the gaming session and activities, the teaching professionals can encourage the children and lead them successfully towards doing the physical activities for enhancing the physical and mental health development (Mutz & Albrecht, 2017). The studies explored that the government should focus on incorporating the physical activities to daily routine as it makes a drastic changes for the next generations where they would be able to lead a good life style without having the diseases such as obesity, diabetes type 2 and high blood pressure (Neshteruk et al., 2018). The childhood is the best time to promote healthy life style, from where the children can develop healthy habits including healthy eating, doing physical activities and making fruitful contribution in the social activities and school programs (Neshteruk et al., 2018). The behaviour of the children is also improving over the period of time through the physical educational program at the primary schools and it further ensure brain development among the children (Mutz & Albrecht, 2017). environment in this regard is a major factor which also has crucial impacts on the child development and for example, playing area, small park near home, open space at home are effective for the children to play and do daily activities. Most of the children do not have enough space for running and jumping for which there is lack of participation of the children in the physical activities on regular basis. According to Neshteruk et al. (2018), there are 50% of women in the African Americans with low income where they are suffering from obesity. It is hereby necessary to raise concern about the necessities of physical activities and encourage the social communities to be engaged with the daily exercise and other activities to stay healthily. Additionally, ERICKSON et al. (2019) stated that children aged 6-13 years old have higher level of physical and mental health development and it further reshape their future successfully. Daily exercise is hereby important for the child and in this regard the school authorise need to restructure the daily routine for the children to be engaged in daily physical activities (Hsieh et al., 2018).Additionally, engagement with the parents, engaging the students in daily exercise with fun games and fun related activities are the major tactics through which it is possible to increase the involvement of the parents, family members as well as increase the participation rate of the children in the daily activities (Mutz & Albrecht, 2017). This is beneficial for the adulthood of the individuals, where they are able to lead a healthy lifestyle as well as develop mental health to tackle with the issue of depression and anxiety, which is the main issue among the young generations across the globe. Hence, the daily physical excise has direct impacts on reshaping the adulthood of the individuals and it is beneficial to reduce the chance of diseases in future (Mutz & Albrecht, 2017). Moreover, Self-confidence and acceptance are increasing among the children, here the students can participate fearlessly and perform better. Perceptual attention and working memory are also developed over the period of time, which reshape the brain of the children successfully (Hsieh et al., 2018). Hence, various sports and disciplines further encourage the children to participate in the games and sports and improve their physical activities in long run. As per the study of Mutz & Albrecht (2017), there is more participation of the boys as compared to the girls, and it is the responsibility of the government and school authorities to encourage the girls and introduce the games for the girls as well so that they can show their creativity and develop skill to participate actively.

Physical activity is a most important critical factor to improve heath condition as well as standardise the lifestyle of the individuals. It is necessary to be engaged with the daily activities and it is transferred across the generations. The aim of the study is to evaluate the relationship between motivations in physical activity in preschool aged children both boy and girls and the adulthood including male and female. The major percentage of the children during preschool spends their life in the child care home and there are minimal physical activities and the participation of the children is also lowest. As per the review of World Health Organisation (WHO), the children must spend 180 minutes in different types of physical activity (WHO, 2020). Additionally, the WHO also stated that, the children aged between 5 and 17 years should spend a minimum 60 minutes in moderate to vigorous physical activities in daily life (WHO, 2010). In this regard, motivation plays a crucial role in encouraging the children to take active part in the daily physical activities and extrinsic motivation can encourage the children to develop new skills (BiddleI & Brooke, 1992). Cross theory boundaries and explore more creative activities to achieve higher. It is also mandatory to treat each child to support them and fulfil their needs and preferences so that they can feel safe and contribute efficiently in doing the daily activities successfully. Maximising the rights and responsibilities of the children, leading them efficiently will further help the adults to meet their needs and expectations by doing their daily activities creatively (WHO, 2020).

Discussion

As per the study by Kobel, et al. (2017), there is lack of participation of the boys and girls in the pre schools with the physical activities, and the students travel between school and home by car or bus and it further limits the physical actvi8ties. On the other hand, the boys are engaged more with the physical activities as compared to the girls. There is significant differences between eh girls and boys, only 69% of British children aged between 9 to 10 years are engaged with the physical activities and recommendation provided by WHO. On the other hand, 42% US children aged between 6 and 11 years achieve the goal of daily MPVA and only 11% children aged between 7 to 9 years are successful to meet the recommendation of the WHO. As per the guidelines by WHO, the children aged between 5 to 17 years must spend 60 minutes daily in the physical activities and before starting the activities, the medical check up is mandatory to check the health and physical condition of the children. The physical activities for the child involves the movement and enjoyment of the child and in this regard different types of games, physical education, planned exercise, recreational activities, sports in the context of schools and the family and community activities are involved in the physical activities for the children, in which the children can take active part and perform better.

Maintaining cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness is the major benefit of daily physical activities for children. Other benefits include reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety, increasing metabolic health biomarkers, and improving bone health. Physical activity also improves children's mental health in the long run (The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP), 2012).

The majority of activities should be related to aerobics, with vigorous intensity activities designed on a regular basis to strengthen muscles and bones (WHO, 2010). If children have health issues, it's essential to support them with minimal exercise and gradually increase frequency, duration, and intensity over time to meet WHO guidelines (Pate et al., 2016).

Barriers to physical activity among children include technology, such as computer and smartphone use, and parents' long work hours, which reduce time for physical activity. Lack of awareness about the benefits of physical activity and ineffective guidelines also contribute to low participation (Martin & Murtagh, 2015).

Effective physical education programs can increase awareness among children and parents and encourage regular physical activity. Engaging parents and incorporating fun activities into lessons can also promote physical activity (Mutz & Albrecht, 2017).

Increasing physical activity programs does not require significant investment and leads to physical and mental health development among children (Sollerhed & Ejlertsson, 2007). Physical activity also improves children's behavior and brain development (Mutz & Albrecht, 2017).

Environmental factors, such as access to play areas, influence children's participation in physical activity. It's crucial to raise awareness about the importance of physical activity and encourage community engagement to promote a healthy lifestyle (Neshteruk et al., 2018).

Engaging parents and incorporating fun activities can increase children's participation in physical activity, leading to a healthier adulthood and reducing the risk of diseases (Mutz & Albrecht, 2017).

Conclusion

It is mandatory to support the children, who are physically inactive for any reason, and it is necessary to raise concern among the children and motivate them to increase their physical activities on a regular basis. The children should start the physical activities by doing small amount of activities daily which further raise interest among them to do physical activities on daily basis. It is also challenging to motivate the children and as per the interview transcript from the children and the family members and also from the friends, physical activities are beneficial for the children in everyday life. It is crucial for me to encourage the family members and also the children to do daily exercise though it would be challenging for them to do the physical activities on a daily basis. It further helps to me to develop bonding with the family members and child as well as communicate with them for improving the physical activities and ensuring improvement of the standard of living. In some cases, it is also challenging to involve the parents in the daily activities and on the other hand, there are also the parents who are interested and encouraged to take active part in involving in the activities and also encourage their children to do that on a regular basis. The needs of the children such as fancy games, clothes and holidays are necessary to be met and with continuous motivation and encouragement of the children by fulfilling their needs and expectations, it is possible to involve the children and improve their physical activities in daily lives. In the recent years, there is another challenge which is related to computer games, for which the children are not interested in other games, physical activities and other daily life activities. In such situation, motivational interview, developing relationship with the children, rising concerned among them about the necessities of daily physical activities and encouraging them are the suitable ways to encourage the children and improve their life style in future.

References:

BIDDLE, S., & BROOKE, R. (1992). Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivational orientation in physical education and sport. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 62(2), 247-256. doi: href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8279.1992.tb01018.x">10.1111/j.2044-8279.1992.tb01018.x

Guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age. (2020). Retrieved 7 April 2020, from href="https://www.who.int/publications-detail/guidelines-on-physical-activity-sedentary-behaviour-and-sleep-for-children-under-5-years-of-age">https://www.who.int/publications-detail/guidelines-on-physical-activity-sedentary-behaviour-and-sleep-for-children-under-5-years-of-age

Pate, R., Brown, W., Pfeiffer, K., Howie, E., Saunders, R., Addy, C., & Dowda, M. (2016). An Intervention to Increase Physical Activity in Children. A Randomized Controlled Trial With 4-Year-Olds in Preschools. American Journal Of Preventive Medicine, Volume 51(Issue 1), Pages 12-22.

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Trost, S., Sirard, J., Dowda, M., Pfeiffer, K., & Pate, R. (2003). Physical activity in overweight and nonoverweight preschool children. International Journal Of Obesity, 27(7), 834-839. doi: href="https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802311">10.1038/sj.ijo.0802311