Bike benefits for active kids.
As perhaps one of the greatest challenges of modern parenting, keeping your kids active and inspiring them to explore their interest outside of the digital realm is riddled with obstacles. Yet, it’s essential for their overall health and well-being, and it can become an excellent way to reduce your carbon footprint, so it makes sense to make an extra effort to find the perfect outdoors hobby for your little ones.
One such activity is bike riding, which offers many perks from getting your kids to spend more time in nature, help them socialize better and safeguard their health. If you still have your doubts, read on to find out why this might be the right choice for your little rascals!
Fun and cardio wrapped up in one
Teaching your kids from a young age to protect their heart health is pivotal for them to grow up aware and eager to stay active. When you do that through a fun activity such as bike riding, few things can go wrong – they will get to spend some time in the sun, break a sweat, and laugh out loud as they race you through the park.
But safety first! Always make sure to teach your kids proper safety measures such as wearing a helmet and knee pads just in case they fall, which is bound to happen on occasion.
Strong and sturdy
Heart isn’t the only muscle in their bodies that will do the heavy work, on the contrary! Their entire body will use cycling as a tough workout, which will help them build strong and lean skeletal muscles, especially in their legs and core. As a result, they will also become more resilient, and improve their balance and coordination for everyday life, as well as their next cycling adventure.
However, this progress happens gradually, so give your kids some time to adapt to this new skill, but also try to encourage them to stay active as opposed to stopping and resting too frequently.
Happy-go-lucky
Just like physical activity of any sort helps grownups handle stress and anxiety, a child needs a way to cope with their ever-changing emotions, the stress of many changes such as starting a new school or making new friends. Their bike-riding will become their safe haven, their little oasis of joy-filled laughter and heart racing, helping them tackle these daily struggles better in the future.
When they ride a bike, kids experience a surge of serotonin, the “feel good” hormone, which is responsible for the positive chemistry in their minds. The longer they stay devoted to a healthy bike-riding routine, the greater the rewards they will reap.
Family bonding
As they grow up, kids slowly become more independent, but their emotional bond with their parents and siblings remains one of the cornerstones of a healthy life. You can let your kids pick out their own bikes, organize family field trips to nature to try them out, set up a picnic, explore the woods and riding your bikes as a group. Not only will this be educational and healthy, but it will give your kids a sense of strong, positive attachment and belonging through many changes they face.
From choosing the right family equipment in a reliable online bike store, all the way to personalizing your bikes with name tags, seat covers, tassels and similar decorations, every step of the bike journey can be a memorable and a fun one.
Confidence-building
Every kid has their own character, so their rides will never be the same. Some will enjoy the lone-wolf cycling through the park as you sit quietly in the nearby café or bench reading a book and keeping an eye on them, while others will prefer group hangouts with their peers. Either way, any cycling activity will help them boost their fragile confidence and build a positive self-image in time.
It will also serve them as a perfect tool to meet other kids who share their love for cycling, and develop their social skills from a very early age. Not to mention those messy adventures when they return home covered in mud simply because they rode their bikes in the rain – such courage helps them gain more confidence and a lifetime of memories to cherish!
Author BIO