Families play a critical role in shaping a child’s physical activity experiences. Opportunities and motivation to be physically active begin in the home. Studies have found that adolescents are more likely to be active if their parents or siblings are active; their parents support their participation in physical activities; and they have access to convenient play spaces, sports equipment, and transportation to sports and recreation programs.

Strategy 1: Include education for parents and guardians as part of youth physical activity promotion initiatives.

Parents and guardians can

• Encourage their children to be active on a regular basis.
  
  
• Be physically active role models.
  
  
• Set limits on the amount of time their children spend watching television and playing video or computer games.
  
  
• Plan and participate in family activities that include physical activity (e.g., walking or bicycling together instead of driving, doing active chores like vacuuming and mowing the lawn, playing outside) and include physical activity in family events such as birthday parties, picnics, and vacations.
  
  
• Facilitate participation by their children in school and community physical activity and sports programs.
  
  
• Advocate for quality school and community physical activity programs.
  

Physical education teachers, health education teachers, coaches, and recreation program staff should encourage and enable family involvement in their programs. For example, teachers can assign physical activity-related homework to students that must be done with their families and provide flyers designed for parents that contain information and strategies for promoting physical activity within the family. Coaches and recreation program staff can involve parents in booster clubs and give them advice on how to help their children stay active and fit. Media campaigns to promote youth physical activity should include messages targeting parents and guardians.

A particularly important channel for educating parents and guardians and their children about youth physical activity is the primary health care provider. Physicians, nurses, and others who provide health services to young people should assess physical activity patterns among their patients, counsel them about physical activity, and refer them to appropriate physical activity programs. Health care providers also should encourage parents to be role models for their children, plan physical activities that involve the whole family, and discuss with their children the value of physical activity.

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