7 ways that can stop your child from becoming a couch potato and lead an active lifestyle.

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7 ways that can stop your child from becoming a
couch potato and lead an active lifestyle
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• The sound of the last bell, followed by swirling
  crowd, with the sweat swamping the body
  regardless of the weather. The incredible
  struggle to reach the panic room before the
  apocalypse breaks out exactly matches your
  childs situation when they get off school.
  Except that the Apocalypse means your kids
  favorite TV show. They wont even change, freshen
  up or at least take out their lunch box to be
  washed. For them, the mission is clear and
  simple. They know only one road, and that road
  leads them straight to the TV or video games for
  that matter. Nothing can come between their path
  to victory. Well, except for power cut, that one
  time you must feel triumphant, but its
  temporary. You cannot always wish the power was
  out. And, you obviously cant afford to scold
  them every day or sell the TV on Olx. It will
  only infuriate them which is not good for their
  development. This must leave you in utter
  bewilderment as to what could be done to stop
  your child from becoming a couch potato.

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Below are 7 ways that can stop your child from
becoming a couch potato
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• 1.  Set rules in your home
• If you think setting rules drive a wedge between
  you and your kids, youre wrong. Rules backfire
  only when youre not being careful while
  conveying them to your kids. You have to be their
  friend and tell them, that everybody in the house
  follows rules. Daddy has to go to work every
  morning, mommy has to prepare food for everybody
  (or any other work), and you (kids) have to
  study- (now the important part) as well as have
  fun.  Rules should not feel like rules, it should
  feel like roles. Every person has a role to play,
  and kids role is to study, play, and have fun.
  That way, your kid will know when its time to
  turn off the TV and do something else (study,
  outdoors sports, sleep etc). And if they dont
  turn off the TV, they will obey you when you tell
  them to turn it off.

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• 2. Set rewards for prioritizing studies or any
  other thing to do
• If they like watching TV straight after coming
  home from school, tell them they can only watch
  it after they change and take out their lunch
  box. If they like watching TV shows, make them
  earn the same. Tell them, just like parents work
  hard to make money, you (kids) have to work hard
  to earn your TV time. Give them daily tasks in
  terms of studies, outdoors sports, eating, etc.
   Only after achieving those tasks, they get a
  refill of their TV time. If you want to stop your
  child from becoming a couch potato, do it the
  right way so that they learn something from it.
  The lesson being, everything has to be earned.

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• 3. Put a daily limit on the screen time
• There is no limit of cool TV shows. There is
  always something good going on the TV which is
  loved by your kid. That does not mean they can
  sit all day and do just that. Make them
  understand the importance of balance in the
  activities that take up your day. You decide, and
  if you think 2 hours of TV time every day should
  be sufficient, then tell your kids that they have
  to pick their TV shows, so that screen time does
  not exceed 2 hours.
• 4. Improve your own habit of watching TV a lot
• When parents love watching TV, kids will also
  learn to love it. Indian women, after preparing
  the dinner, spend most of their time watching TV
  serials. One cannot possibly expect their kids to
  obey when they are constantly being tempted.
  Instead, try covering your TV serials in the
  afternoon when kids are at school. During the
  night, make sure the kid has done all his days
  work, and he went to sleep. After that, you can
  afford to watch TV.

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• 5. Encourage them for outdoor sports
• Not only to stop them from being a couch potato,
  but also for other various reasons you should get
  them to play outdoors. I need not enlighten the
  fact that obesity is touching the new highs
  around the world. Repercussions of obesity are
  countless diabetes, high cholesterol, blood
  pressure, to name a few. Also, lack of proper
  nutrients and exercise does not really help your
  children in their brain development. Make sure
  studies and outdoors sports top the list of to-do
  things in your childs day.
• 6. Have all the meals together, at the dining
  table
• If youre trying to make your kid turn off the
  TV, then dont serve them anything to eat at all
  while theyre watching TV. Make a rule to eat
  together at the dining table. This way, your
  child has to turn off the TV and come to the
  table to eat, and that is exactly the best time
  to have a good conversation. All the lessons you
  want to teach them, such as the importance of
  physical activities, nutrition,
  studies, personality development etc, you can do
  that while youre having a meal. More
  conversation with your kids mean more knowledge
  you have about their school life, play life etc.

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• 7.Make them learn new skills
• When children have nothing to do, after
  completing all their homework and outdoor games,
  they will definitely want to spend the rest of
  the day in front of a TV. You can make them learn
  guitar at home, or dance, singing, self-defense
  or anything else they like so that the extra
  hours can be put to a better use. Skills are
  essential for the overall development of a
  person, and they are best learned when a person
  is young. This is by far the best way to stop
  your child from becoming a couch potato.

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