Don’t Let Age Get in the Way: 3 Activities to Do With the Grandkids
With the summer holidays only a few months away, it’s time to start thinking about some great, fun and exciting activities to do with your grandchildren when they come to visit.
As you’ll know, kids are very lively and energetic and we sometimes wonder if we’ll ever be able to keep up with them, but it’s important to remember that, just because we’re ‘older’, it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re ‘old’. With the right activities, we can have all the fun we could when we were younger, and even give the kids a run for their money!
Here are 3 of the best age-defying activities to enjoy this summer:
1. Sing And Dance
Babies and young children naturally love music, and singing and dancing is actually a very beneficial activity for both you and your grandkids.
In terms of the grandchildren, it is widely believed that exposure to music can improve learning in about 90 percent of youngsters, particularly in relation to verbal communication and understanding.
Music creates a simple and enjoyable way to learn about patterns – a skill which can be applied to many other aspects of education. In terms of you, gentle exercise can improve your mobility, increase balance and reduces the risk of falls. If you use mobility aids, such as stairlifts or handrails throughout the home and find it difficult to get about, you can help improve the pain and discomfort associated with movement by including some gentle exercise into your daily routine.
Mild aerobic exercises, such as dance, have been found to increase manageable walking distance and improve knee extension by up to 26 percent.
2. Go Swimming
Once again, swimming is a great activity for grandparents and grandchildren to do together over the summer, and, while it is fun, it’s also very beneficial for all of you. Change4Life cites swimming as one of the best ways to help kids stay active and healthy, and activities such as this are believed to help build self-esteem and promote positive body confidence.
The NHS recommends that children under 5 years of age undertake 180 minutes of physical activity each day, and children aged between 5 and 18 years should participate in around one hour of sports or movement per day.
Spending an hour in the pool is a great way to meet this target. However, while children generally stay very active, the same cannot be said for the older generation. In fact, it’s estimated that almost half of all pensioners do not partake in any sort of physical activity at all. Swimming is one of the best activities for the older generation. As a non-weight bearing exercise, it doesn’t put strain on the joints as running or walking would do, and the water can actually be quite rejuvenating. It has even been suggested that swimming could help build bone mass, delaying or preventing the effects of osteoporosis.
3. Get Cooking
The beauty about cooking with the grandkids is that there’s a tasty treat at the end! Cooking, or baking, is a wonderful activity for kids, not only because it’s highly educational, but also because it gives them something to look forward to. Cooking allows children to be a part of real life tasks and make an association between these tasks and their rewards.
As we age, our bodies require less food, and it can be so easy to put good nutrition on the backburner. However, although we require less, we still need to fuel our bodies. In undertaking regular cooking at home, we can increase cooking confidence, develop skills and introduce a wider range of foods and tastes into our diet. It’s always a good idea to include some sweet treats when cooking with grandkids, such as cupcakes. However, if you’ve got very young children who are unable to use an oven, and have a very limited attention span, try some no-bake goodies, such as homemade cereal bars for example.
Older Doesn’t Mean Old!
It’s very easy, in the later years, to simply say ‘I can’t do that anymore’, without even really trying. Fortunately, we’ve got the grandkids to keep us young!
Believe it or not, we can still do a whole range of activities during retirement, some more adventurous than others! Don’t forget, Oscar Swahn was 72 years old when he competed in the 1920 Olympic Games! If he can participate in the biggest sporting event in the world, then a bit of song and dance, a dip in the pool and cooking up some cakes should be, well, a piece of cake!
This guest post has been supplied by Acorn Stairlifts, a reliable and leading resource for stairlift advice, help and information across the UK.