The Shrewsbury Club Family Membership Offer Helps to Buck Decline in Children's Activity

Aaina, Susie and Simran Jassel enjoy spending time in the gym at The Shrewsbury Club.

A report released on Thursday reveals the vast majority of British parents feel that the rise in tablet and smartphone use for young children is contributing to a decline in the amount of exercise they do - but a Shropshire family is delighted to be bucking the trend thanks to their membership at the Shrewsbury Club.

ukactive polled more than 1,000 British parents to discover their opinions on their children’s use of technology and how this impacts upon physical activity levels, particularly over the Easter break. The findings suggest that parents believe that technology is limiting their children’s activity levels. ukactive recommends that a broad approach is taken to encourage children to get active, which extends beyond school time alone.

The other key findings focus on the fact it is more difficult for parents today to encourage children to become physically active than for previous generations. This is due to limited affordable opportunities for children to be active in their local area, and inadequate information disseminated by the government about the health risks of excessive sedentary time.

It was also discovered that parents see technology as a barrier to activity, and that it is increasingly difficult to encourage children to become active due to a sharp increase in the number of children using ipads in recent years. But the Jassel family, from Hadnall, near Shrewsbury, has bucked the trend, with parents Harmesh and Susie regularly enjoying the chance to exercise alongside their daughters Aaina, 12, and Simran, 10.

Mum Susie said the family make the most of having a family membership at The Shrewsbury Club to lead an active lifestyle, stressing its importance to their daughters, both pupils at Shrewsbury High School. She added: "Every household seems to have ipads, computers and games, which is brilliant, as it can be great family entertainment, but it's nice for our girls to get out and do something different, to perhaps go on the treadmill in the gym, and they love it.

"They do PE at school but it's nice to come out of that environment and do something together as a family as well, which is what our family membership at The Shrewsbury Club allows us to do. The girls also use the holiday camps at the club which means they get to swim, play rounders, football, try cheer leading, all sorts of different things. They're playing games, having fun, and they don't realise they're getting a bit out of breath or having some exercise as it's part and parcel of the way they live.

"They also do cardio fitness now as The Shrewsbury Club run classes for different age groups. The girls have had an induction in the gym, so they can use the treadmills and cross trainers. There is also a family spin class we've been along to on a Sunday, so it's all enjoyable."

ukactive's recommendations include that as part of the government’s investment into children’s physical activity confirmed in the 2016 budget, funding should be set aside for an ‘Active Families Premium’ to provide affordable, engaging opportunities for children to be active during the school holidays, supporting parents and children to lead a healthy lifestyle during these crucial months

It adds that the existing ‘PE and Sport Premium’ should be effectively rebranded as the ‘Physical Activity Premium’ in order to ensure that the language and objectives are consistent with a singular focus of getting 60 active minutes throughout the day.

Alvin Ward, manager of The Shrewsbury Club, stressed continually coming up with new and exciting ways to encourage youngsters to lead more active lifestyles was important.

He said: "There's a lot of health clubs locally, but not many focus on the whole family like we are proud to do. We think it's important for families to be active together and it's a great way for parents to set an excellent example to their children about the benefits of regular exercise. That's why we introduced family memberships offering a fully dedicated family activity programme.

"We offer 35 different children's activities each week for all different age groups from two up to 15. We provide activities that children can enjoy with the help of our friendly, expert staff while their parents or guardians work out separately. Our family programme includes activities where children and parents can also enjoy playing and exercising together, from parents and toddlers swimtime to family spin."