How Do You Make Exercise A Part Of Family Wellness?

As a parent, you want to ensure the wellbeing of your children, but more often than not life manages to get in the way of family wellness. Making sure you eat right and get enough exercise is hard enough when there’s only one of you, so trying to keep your kids active seems impossible. Fortunately, however, it isn’t.

Firstly, remember that your children learn by example and, especially before they become teenagers, they want to be like you. They eat the foods you give them, and they exercise when you and/or your partner does. You set the course for their present and future wellness, so start early and teach little ones by example. If there is a sport you enjoy doing, chances are that your children will enjoy it too. Playing it with them could make you love it even more, yet remember that you’re there for fitness purposes and it’s not a competition. This becomes trickier in your child’s teenage years, but perhaps you could encourage them to join a sports club.

Next, when you’re planning activities for family holidays and weekends, make sure that exercise features as part of the fun. You could go for a nature walk or hike or a day at the beach, or you could try visiting your local health club or walking around the zoo. You might want to try a winter holiday destination so you can do something new together, like ice-skating or skiing. Yet, gardening, kicking a ball around and rollerblading are always great outdoor activities you can do together, and you can’t beat a good old-fashioned family bike ride.

Finally, don’t make your family exercise programme a ‘thing’ and announce it to the kids. You’ll have far better results if you simply and gradually modify your family’s routine to include more physical activity. Try walking or parking further away from your destinations, and take the stairs instead of the lift. With the kids, try making a game out of climbing the stairs two at a time to build leg strength and flexibility. The point is to make it fun, easy, and even thoughtless activity, rather than a chore that you’re making them do.