It’s hard to keep our teens active with their (and our) busy schedules, unless they’re involved in school sports or gym classes. Once they leave school, even that activity drops significantly, and parents are concerned about what this means for the health of our young adults.
While exact numbers vary, all our recent data points to the fact that a majority of teenagers, both in the United States and globally, are not getting enough physical activity to remain healthy. Now, a new study suggests that even those who are active during school years can abruptly become more sedentary after graduation.
Here’s what parents are witnessing, and the steps that may help prevent our current teens from maintaining that trend.
Parents Cite Half A Dozen Barriers To Exercise
Parents say that a lack of time is a major factor they witness preventing their kids, aged 18-25, from getting involved in sports or other physical activity, according to a new study reported by News-Medical. While their schedule during school years may have carved out specific time for playing basketball or running laps, their post-school schedules, whether in college or employment, don’t tend to do so.
A lack of interest is another factor. Outside of school, older teens and young adults just aren’t finding activities that interest them and are also physically healthy.
The third of the top factors parents cite is the amount of time that their 18-25-year-olds spend attached to screens and video games. It’s where their friends are, and it’s where they spend their time, too.
Parents also said that cost, health issues, and lack of a workout partner are factors for at least some young adults. Most sports and many gym activities aren’t really accessible without at least a spotter or a second participant, and in adult sport leagues, there may be a cost to participate, in addition to the cost of equipment (all of which may have been provided for free or cheaply during school years).
What Activities Are Young Adults Interested In?
Parents say that their young adult offspring, ages 18 to 21, are seeking fun activities such as dancing, skating, or organized sports.
Unfortunately, these can become increasingly difficult to access. Costs cause skate rinks and parks to raise prices or shut down. (In my area, a proposed skate rink has been stalled for years, due to costs and regulations that have kept the process from being feasible, for instance.) Organized sports for adults are relatively few and far between, unless you’re on a professional level. Even if a local organization makes, for instance, a basketball or softball team available to young adults, it’s going to fizzle unless there are enough people interested and available at the same time — at an age where everyone’s employment and/or studies have their schedules at odds.
Parents say most young adults between 21 and 25 are more interested in gyms and workouts, but these activities lack the social aspect that can keep participants engaged. The solo-style exercise may be easier to fit into a schedule, but it lacks a motivating factor for many young adults.
What Can Parents Do To Help Motivate Their Kids?
Parents say they’re trying to motivate their young adult children to stay active in various ways. They encourage, suggest activities, offer to pay for programs, or even try to exercise together with their kids.
Despite this, at an age when one’s activities may be setting a pattern for lifelong habits, young adults just aren’t staying active.
It’s possible that getting our kids involved in fun physical activities outside of school before graduation could help. Rec teams could bridge the gap by providing activities for teenagers and transitioning them to adult teams.
However, to motivate an entire generation will require a societal shift, not just efforts by individual parents or families. If we want to raise healthy children into healthy young adults who will stay active into later adulthood, we’re going to have to build neighborhoods and communities that value physical activity and work to make it part of all our lives.
