Originally posted on Y-USA ymca.net
You don’t have to be an athlete or in love with exercise equipment to practice healthy living. In fact, when your family makes play a priority, you’ll probably find yourself having so much fun that you won’t even notice how active you are. Adding short periods of playful activity to your day helps provide you with the energy that you need to live a full and balanced life. It is also one of the keys to avoiding a variety of chronic conditions down the road, and what better way to spend time with your kids now?
Playful movement is one of the keys to a healthy family home. It doesn’t matter what you choose to do. As long as your arms and legs are moving, it’s good for you. To get 60 minutes of activity throughout your day just add ten minutes here and fifteen minutes there. It adds up and it all counts, so get playing!
Tips for Building Healthy Play into Your Days:
Take It Ten Minutes At a Time
Children often need only to be offered time, space, and permission and they will get all of the play they need. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come as naturally or easily for adults. The good news is that small increments of time spent walking, climbing stairs, gardening, playing with the kids, and doing other household chores add up. Try thinking of ways to build more routine movement into your day by parking your car a little farther away, taking the stairs instead of the escalator, walking once around the grocery store perimeter before beginning to shop or grabbing a leash and going for a walk rather than just letting your dog outside.
Wear a Pedometer
Studies have shown that wearing a pedometer increases the amount of physical activity that people get every day. These little devices are available in more shapes and sizes than ever. In fact, you can get an application that will enable your cell phone to show you how much you are walking! Try to increase the total number of steps you take by just a few each day and soon you’ll be getting the hour of moderate activity you need.
Work Toward Well-Rounded
When your kids are young, take the time to introduce them to a wide variety of sports, games and activities. This will give them the opportunities to find things that they enjoy doing and people they enjoy doing them with. By not pushing kids to specialize too early, you will help them to build a well-rounded set of interests and the opportunity to develop an array of skills and passions that will keep them interested, engaged and active for life. Explore the possibilities!
Turn It Up a Notch!
Several times each week, spend a little more energy while moving. Try to engage in vigorous activities at least three times each week for 20 consecutive minutes. Don’t worry if five or ten minutes leaves you feeling wiped out at first. Small steps will get you there, so don’t overdo it. When the play stops feeling good, take a break.
Have a Ball!
When you add some form of ball to your playtime, it’s likely to get your blood pumping a little faster—which is good. Try going out to the backyard or a park with your kids and keeping a beach ball up in the air for as long as possible. Kick a soccer ball around for a few minutes and see how that feels. Even throwing a baseball (or a disc) back and forth will send you jogging to recover the ball from time to time. Meanwhile, enjoy the fun your kids are having playing with you!
Get Some Wheels
Most activities that incorporate the use of wheels have a mixture of vigorous activity offset by periods of rest and coasting along. Get your helmets on and take a bike ride with the kids in a local park. Plot your course so that you have to tackle a couple of small hills or ride into the wind part of the way. Keep your kids active by introducing other activities on wheels like rollerblading, riding scooters, or learning to skateboard—all fun ways to get the activity they need. Just be sure to pick a safe location and use the recommended safety equipment.
Team Up for An Event
These days it is pretty easy to find a community event that includes inexpensive walks, fun runs and middle distance races that can be a blast for the entire family. Setting a family goal tied to an event like a one-mile fun run or a 5K walk can provide the motivation you need to get started and keep moving toward your goal of upping the amount of energy you burn. You might even be motivated to do some good by throwing your family’s support behind an event that benefits a local cause!
Free Downloadable Family Tracker
Play may be the best way to prevent childhood obesity. Put more play into your family’s day, and you will soon find yourself getting the activity that will have your family feeling energized and strong.
Try getting the family together to select one of the following goals or come up with your own. To begin, go for something that is realistic and achievable. In one week, get back together to see how you did and what you learned. Take into account this week’s experience, set another goal, and keep going. You can do it!
