24 Family

The family is one of the most important settings when it comes
to encouraging physical activity in children. When planning
and implementing schemes, municipalities and institutions
should consider ideas that are aimed directly at families and
might motivate them to take physical exercise. Municipalities
can also reach children’s parents through day-care centres and
schools. They should communicate and promote the benefits,
opportunities and the vital importance of an active family
home when it comes to encouraging physical activity among
children.

The family home and the entire family are central factors for conveying
an active way of life to the children. The behaviour of the
parents is passed on to the children in various ways and is often
advanced there with a surprising stability.

Parental information on the importance of exercise and active free
play should be a matter of course in every municipality. The municipality
should also provide information for the parents as to how
they can bring more activity into their everday routine.

The municipalities should always take into consideration that depending
on their different socio-economic status, families foster
their children’s abilities in different ways. This also includes the promotion
of physical activity. Exercise concepts and information for
the parents should be tailored to meet the parents’ needs.
This also could mean presenting the information in several languages.

Projects realised show that all too often it is the families who are in
any case active that are reached and not those who really need it.

In families with a low socio-economic status there are many correlations
even at the pre-school stage between the lack of exercise
of the children and the lack of exercise of the parents, the BMI of
the father and the cardiovascular diseases of the parents.

Studies have shown that the role model of the parents goes way
beyond the domestic environment and includes the settings for
playing and sport.

How municipalities can address parents on promotion of
physical activity

• Use of exisiting structures (youth welfare office, paediatricians, pre-school medical examinations)

• Coordinated procedure with standardised information

• Use of district-oriented networks (Guideline 10)

• Intermediation of offers

Best Practice Stuttgart (DE)

Partnership of education

The day-care centre in the ‚Daimler Street’ in Stuttgart received
the german prevention award for their exemplary
parent work in 2008. The respectful involvement of parents
from twelve different nations in the ‘partnership of education
at eye level’ has strong positive effects – also on the
physical development of the children.

More information:
www.citiesforsports.eu/best-practice