As we face increased stress and unexpected financial burdens, exercise can be one of the most integral aspects of family togetherness. Incorporate fitness into your lives as a family team and you will not only provide healthier bodies and minds, but some of the best memories for your children. If you incorporate fitness into their lives now, you will give them the best gift in the world. It has been shown that active youth develop better self esteem, have a greater sense of self efficacy and think of fitness as FUN not a chore. You want to be an ACTIVE role model to your child, not the parent who has no energy and can’t find time to play at the park.
The first way you can incorporate fitness into your family lifestyle is to think of your body as a means of transportation, not your vehicle. Living in the Pacific Northwest, you are more likely to be an active and adventurous soul who may already be using your bike or feet as a means to get to work. Why not also walk or jog your children to school instead of driving?. It may require more planning, but will add more miles to your day and allow the time for good conversations with your kids.
Expand on this idea when doing errands by utilizing your bikes/bike trailers, or jogging strollers to complete them. Without constantly getting your children in and out of the car, the errands will be much more efficient and fun. Likewise the stop and go component allows for a short rest, making it easier for you to cover more miles than you normally would. You could even race your kids from Point A to Point B, challenging them to go faster to each destination. Also get creative with your household errands. For example, make yard work more fun and encourage your kids to run fast across the lawn, up and down your front stairs, rake the leaves to jump in them ….only to rake them again.
Tips to make Fitness a Family affair:
• At the beginning of each month, have each family member pick 2 new activities they would like to try by month’s end and write them on the calendar
• Make an appointment each weekend for the family to exercise together. As the month progresses, add 2-3 additional dates throughout the week
• If your children are under the age of 2, alternate who pushes the jogging stroller, wears the backpack, or pulls the sled with your partner.
• When thinking of new activities, why not try rock climbing, paddle boarding, surfing, kayaking, snowshoeing or cross country skiing. Kids are quite adventurous and don’t have the same fears as adults, often resulting in abilities to tackle new sports with fierce gumption.
• Start a Fitness Journal together. Write memories from certain activities, ie: Cole, age 3 years, ran 1 ½ miles today while I pushed Kellan in the jogger. Afterwards, I pushed both boys at an 8 minute mile pace for 30 minutes! Each time you try a new sport take a photo and add it to the journal. Everyone can share their experience and favorite memory.
• Encourage good sportsmanship and overall well being within your children. Younger siblings already have the tendency to feel like they need to play catch up and you want them to feel included at their own level.
Ways to incorporate Fitness Inside:
• Dance Party. Each family member can choose their 3 favorite songs and everyone has to dance/hop/skip/run/squat/do planks or push ups/jump the entire time. Switch to a new song and do a different activity.
• Create an obstacle course in your house together.
- Jump over 4 pillows
- Hop on one foot 10 times
- Do a crabwalk around the couch
- 10 push ups by the kitchen table
- 10 dips on the family room coffee table
- Up and down the stairs 5 times
- Finish with 10 Jumping Jacks in the kitchen
• Play “Simon Says”, “Red Light Green Light”, Red Rover”, “Freeze Dance”
• Go to the Mall and Mall walk. If you go earlier in the morning, the mall is not busy and you have a lot of space to fit in exercise. Sprint between stores, hop in front of stores, do wall sits on a mall wall, go up and down the stairs, fast walk around the ice rink, and finish with playing at the kids play area.
• Purchase games and equipment that promote physical activity. The games of Hullabaloo, Twister, Wii Fit, balance boards and hula hoops.
Means to incorporate Fitness Outside:
• Think of your backyard as a play yard. Do relay races, pick up sticks-literally, or rock runs holding small or big rocks.
• Incorporate animal drills across the lawn doing Bear Crawls, Crab Walk, Caterpillar, Donkey Kicks, and any others to be created.
• Go to the beach and have fun in the sand dunes. It doesn’t have to be summer to play in the sand and the sand encourages your body to use the small stabilizing and balancing muscles.
• In the snow go cross country skiing, ice skating, snow shoeing or snowboarding.
• Go sledding and each family member must run or walk to the top in order to slide to the bottom.
• Go silly and play miniature golf or Frisbee golf. Kids don’t have to be perfect at their game, nor do the adults.
If you think outside what you currently have been doing, the means to incorporate fitness become endless. Use the next few months to add in new family fitness activities each week, which means by Summer you’ll be exercising as a family 3-4 times each week. Remember, you want to be the active parent at the park with your child, not the parent who is on the bench drinking their latte. Have fun and play!
© Erin Shirey 2009. When not chasing after her 2 little girls, Erin Shirey is Baby Boot Camp® Leadership Coach, owns Baby Boot Camp® Portland & Beaverton, Co-Owns POWER Outdoor Fitness, Inc., and owns Power of YOU Fitness. Erin has written for many athletic publications, in addition to being a contributing editor for Better TV. She has a BS in Kinesiology, is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer, and Fit To Deliver Pre and Postnatal Certified Trainer. To reach Erin, 503.703.1269, PowerofYOUfitness@gmail.com , http://babybootcampportland.blogspot.com
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