By Dan Remon · Evidence checked October 2026
Your calendar is full. Your kids’ calendar is full too, and neither has much running, jumping or climbing in it.
What they need is simpler than a training program: about an hour a day, on average, of play that gets them breathing harder, something that loads their muscles and bones a few days a week, and a parent who makes moving the easy option.
Here are 10 ways to do that in a working week, the WHO numbers behind them, and where your own training fits in.
How to keep your kids active
To keep your kids active, build movement into the week you already have. Train where they can see you, join in, let them choose and try new sports, and use parks, home, chores and days out. Reward the habit, never with food. The WHO target for children aged 5 to 17 is an average of 60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous activity across the week. Research links parents’ support with kids’ activity even more strongly than parents’ own activity.
How much activity do kids need?
The WHO’s 2020 guidelines recommend that children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 do at least an average of 60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous activity across the week, mostly aerobic. Vigorous activity, and activity that strengthens muscle and bone, should feature on at least 3 days a week. They should also limit time spent sitting, particularly recreational screen time.1
For a busy family, the word that matters is average. The 2020 update replaced the old wording, accumulating 60 minutes every day, with an average across the week, because most studies linked health to average daily activity.1 A quiet Tuesday can be balanced by a big Saturday.
Moderate to vigorous means about 5 or more on a 0 to 10 effort scale. WHO’s examples of bone-strengthening activity are jumps of any type, running and lifting weights.1
The WHO review linked activity in children with better fitness, heart, metabolic and bone health, academic performance, fewer symptoms of depression and less body fat. It also asks that activities be enjoyable, offer variety and suit the child’s age and ability.1 That’s the brief for every tip below.
For children aged 3 to 4, WHO’s separate 2019 guideline sets at least 180 minutes a day of activity at any intensity, including at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity, and no more than 1 hour of sedentary screen time.2
How parents shape kids’ activity
A 2015 meta-analysis of 115 studies looked at how parents relate to their children’s physical activity. Parents’ own activity, called modelling, was weakly associated with how active their children were (r = 0.16). Parental support had a moderate association (r = 0.38).3 Support covered encouragement, being active together, praise, watching, driving them to the venue, buying equipment, paying fees and enrolling them in programs.
Prospective studies were limited, so these are mostly associations, not proof of cause. The direction is still useful: your own training counts, and turning up for theirs counts more.
10 tips to keep your kids active
1. Let them see you train
The small things they see count. Take the stairs instead of the escalator, walk with the kids before work, or do a few rounds of push-ups, squats and jumping jacks before dinner. If your gym or studio lets you bring them along now and then, do it. Training with Mum or Dad makes the gym part of normal life.
2. Do it with them
Make weekends active as a family: catch, tag, a bike ride or a swim. Being active together is part of the support the research links most strongly with kids’ activity. Pick things you enjoy. Show them you enjoy it and they will too.
3. Ask them what they want to do
Ask, then listen. Kids pick up interests from school and from friends, and the answer will often surprise you. A sport they chose doesn’t need selling.
4. Let them try a new sport
Golf, tennis, basketball, badminton, swimming and martial arts all hold kids’ interest. A new sport builds coordination and gives them confidence with other kids. Let them try a few before they settle.
5. Book coached sessions
A class run by qualified coaches teaches kids to move safely and challenge themselves with body weight, bands and medicine balls. Driving them there, paying the fees and watching when you can all count as support.
6. Get them to the park
Bangkok has plenty of parks to run around in with friends. Running and jumping are among WHO’s examples of bone-strengthening activity, so an hour of chasing and jumping covers more than one part of the guideline.
7. Make home active
Not every day gets a park, especially in the rainy season. Inside, set up crab soccer, hide and seek, skipping, hopscotch, frog jumps or a short circuit for them and their friends. Then set one house rule that makes room for it: move first, screens after.
8. Give them active jobs
Walking the dog, vacuuming and washing the car are all movement. They build responsibility too, and the time you spend doing them together counts as much as the job.
9. Plan active days out
A day at a theme park means hours of walking from ride to ride. So does a hike, a beach day or an afternoon at the pool. These are the days a family remembers.
10. Reward the habit, never with food
Set up a points system for activity and trade points for rewards: a trip to the movies, tickets to a match, or new kit like a skipping rope, rollerblades or exercise bands. Praise the effort as much as the result. Never use food as a reward.
Your minimum effective dose comes first
Tip 1 only works if you’re training, and a full week is exactly when your own training gets cut first. The answer is a dose small enough to survive that week.
Minimum effective dose is the smallest dose that still produces the result you want, done every week, including the bad ones. I cover it in minimum effective dose: the smallest dose that still works. Mine is 3 strength sessions of 20 minutes and 2 short interval sessions of 5 minutes a week. For adults, WHO’s floor is 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity a week, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity, plus muscle-strengthening work on 2 or more days.1
Here’s how to set yours as a parent:
- Start with the smallest dose you’ll hold on your worst week. 3 sessions of 20 minutes that happen beat a 5-day plan that stops when the school holidays start.
- Put it where they can see it. Train at home on some days, so the example costs no extra time.
- Let family time count. A Saturday bike ride or a swim with the kids counts towards your weekly minutes and theirs, as long as it gets you breathing harder.
- Hold it for a 28-day cycle, then review. If it ran, keep it. If it didn’t, make it smaller and run it again.
If you want a plan already built at this dose, the 30-day executive fitness challenge sets it for you. The family week won’t make room by itself. You default into your day or you design it.
How to start
Set your own dose first. The family week is easier to design after that.
- The 1% Scorecard. 8 questions, 2 minutes, free. You get a score out of 100 and the one thing to install first.
- The Quest. My performance membership, run in 28-day cycles. One change installed per cycle, including a training dose that holds up around school runs, travel and a full calendar. Cancel anytime.
Related reading: How to warm up with purpose: the corrective warm-up I use, How busy exec Niels got lean, fit and focused and Fitness over 40: keep it simple.
FAQ
How much exercise does a child need a day?
WHO recommends that children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 do at least an average of 60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous activity across the week, with vigorous and muscle- and bone-strengthening activity on at least 3 days. Children aged 3 to 4 need at least 180 minutes a day of activity at any intensity, including at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity.
How do I get my child to exercise if they don’t want to?
Ask what they’d enjoy, let them try a few sports before they choose, and be active with them. Praise the effort and handle the logistics. In a 2015 meta-analysis, parental support was more strongly associated with children’s activity than parents’ own activity.
How much screen time should a child have?
WHO recommends no more than 1 hour of sedentary screen time a day for children aged 2 to 4, and less is better. For ages 5 to 17 it recommends limiting recreational screen time but found too little evidence to set a number. A simple house rule helps: move first, screens after.
Does being an active parent make kids more active?
Parents’ activity is linked with children’s activity, but weakly, at r = 0.16 in a 2015 meta-analysis of 115 studies. Support, such as encouragement, being active together and getting them to sport, showed a stronger link at r = 0.38. These are mostly associations, so do both.
Sources
- Bull, F. C., Al-Ansari, S. S., Biddle, S., et al. (2020). World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 54(24), 1451-1462. doi.org/
10.1136/ bjsports-2020-102955 - World Health Organization. (2019, 24 April). To grow up healthy, children need to sit less and play more. News release. who.int/
news/ item/ 24-04-2019-to-grow-up-healthy-children-need-to-sit-less-and-play-more - Yao, C. A., & Rhodes, R. E. (2015). Parental correlates in child and adolescent physical activity: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 12, 10. doi.org/10.1186/s12966-015-0163-y
This article is general information, not medical advice.
