Summertime and the living is easy for 8 -year-old Rex.
Swimming, kayaking, and biking are among the things keeping Rex active this summer.
Mom, Laura Bentz says, even when the pandemic shut down schools during the cold days of march, Rex was always up to break a sweat, "We started going for walks together and we would call them 'quest walks'. We'd make it fun. We'd take sticks and staffs, and he would like to pretend like we were wizards or sorcerers or something."
Making it fun, is rule number one of keeping kids active.
McLaren's Dr. Uzma Khan says it starts with finding activities your child likes, "You have to know your child, and you have to gear the activity towards your child's needs and the attitude."
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends kids five and older get an hour of structured physical activity every day.
At least three of those days every week, the activity should be moderate to vigorous.
"We're talking about anything. It can be simple walking, running, swimming, a lot of different activities," Dr. Khan says.
Getting that daily activity is about much more than taking care of a child's physcial health.
"It's both physical, mental and emotional developing that we're talking about," Khan says.
