Five Tips To Raise a Physically Active Child

Family hikes, holiday 5Ks, vacation swims, and weekend bike rides. Many of us have that vision of being a strong and healthy mom so that we can enjoy those activities with our kids. So how do we create the active family lifestyle we dream of? The truth is that it starts early, and it starts with you. Here are a few tips I’ve discovered in my professional and personal journey to encourage physical activity in kids and my daughter:

1. Speak positively about your body and your physical ability: Comment on what you’re good at. Don’t equate body positivity with perfection. Set a good example of appreciating what your body can do physically. They’re always listening.

2. Do home workouts: Honestly to get a full workout in with your kids in the room can be frustrating and can take years to get to a point with no interruption, but it’s well worth the effort. Model prioritizing your health and fitness and eventually they’ll be your biggest cheer leader, or better yet, they’ll join you!

3. Give them space at the playground: It’s easy to worry about their safety as they’re learning to climb and run, but it’s important for them to build confidence in their own abilities. To be a physically active “big kid”, they have to learn to trust their bodies at an early age. Rather than telling them “be careful”, ask them if they feel safe, or comment on the slippery surface and ask them if they feel comfortable they won’t slip.

4. Educate and complement: Don’t wait for health class. Use meal time or trips to the playground to educate them. For example: “your bones are going to get stronger with all of that jumping”, “your heart is going to be healthy with all that running” Make connections for them that their personal actions are responsible for their health.

5. Play the games: it can be oh so nice when your kids reach the age of playing independently, but on occasion it’s important to get out there with them. Hopscotch, swing pushing and tag may not be your dream family bike trip, but you have to start somewhere. Make those activities enjoyable now and they’ll be receptive to your ideas later. Make it about the fun and not about the exercise/activity.

   Being physically active as a family is great for physical/emotional health, fun and bonding. Put these strategies to work and you’ll be running a Turkey Trot with your 7 year old in no time.

3 Exciting Games to Give Your Kids a Workout (and you too!)

(guest contributor)

As a parent, your child’s health and happiness are always your main concern, which is why it’s important that you teach them the importance of exercise from a young age. However, a lot of parents have trouble balancing family and exercise and they don’t know how to get their kids excited about staying active. Not every child is going to love structured “workouts/exercise”. But most will love playing games, and they will be way more engaged. There are some great active games you can try that will get them outside and moving around, so they can stay healthy (and you can move with them!).

Here are some active games to help your kids get more exercise. Get out there and have fun!

Scavenger Hunts 

Scavenger hunts are always a great way to get your kids moving, and it’s a great option if you want a fun activity to keep them busy at home. All you need to do is hide some items around the house or yard, and challenge your kids to find them. Give them a few clues to get them started and they’ll soon be running around all over the place. If you want to turn it into a workout in disguise, you can put tasks with each item, like do 10 jumping jacks, for example. 

Bean Bag Toss 

Bean bag toss isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you are thinking of fitness games, but it’s actually very beneficial. It improves hand-eye coordination and there is a bit of cardio involved as your child runs back and forth to collect their bean bags. This article that answers questions like, how far apart are the boards in bean bag toss, will help you set up your own game in the yard or park. It’s a great way to spend an afternoon and it’s also fun for parties too. Your kids will have so much fun and they won’t even realize they are exercising. 

Capture The Flag

Capture the flag is a fun way to get your kids running around and get their heart rate up. It’s a simple game you can play with two to four teams of any size, and a few items to use as flags (they don’t need to be actual flags). Set up the flags and assign a base for each team. The aim is then to catch the other team's flag without being tagged. If you want to add an extra element of fitness, you can have the kids do some frog jumpss each time they get tagged before returning to their base and rejoining the game, or change the movement from running to base to skipping. You can have endless hours of fun with this one and it can be played anywhere, but it’s particularly good in a large open space, so it’s perfect for the park. 

Getting kids to exercise can be a battle against toys and screens, but if you play these exciting games with them, you can get them to do a workout without even realizing it.  And I’ll add once again, you get your workout in too!

Six Healthy Habits I'm Happy I Stuck With (Part Two)

I believe in the power of movement, nutrition and physical activity on your mental and physical health and know that it’s important to start that education and those habits young. Looking at my daughter as a six year old, understanding how to take care of her body and having the confidence to be a physically active kid really warms my heart :)

And that brings us to part two of the Six Healthy Habits I’m Glad I Stuck With (as a reminder this post came about after reflecting on my daughter turning six, click here for part one).

4. Eat Dinner (or one meal) Together Every Day: Experts have proven the importance of family meals, not just for nutrition, but for a child’s self esteem, academics and more. Since she was in a highchair, I made sure that if she was having dinner, I was in a chair right next to her having dinner too. I also have gone a step further, and other than when she didn’t have teeth (although I gave my best shot at baby led weaning), her and I have always eaten the exact same meal. In some ways this goes back to the idea of there shouldn’t be food “made for kids”, but I also do it because it gives her exposure to new foods, it models healthy eating without forcing it, it creates less stress for me to have to make and clean up two different meals, and it gives us an opportunity to discuss what we’re eating. Sure this means sometimes the meal is more basic than I’d like or more flavorful than what she’d like...but I always make sure to have one thing in the meal that both of us will enjoy. Where does that leave us now that she’s six...with a consistent evening routine and a lot of interesting dinner conversations. I’ll treasure these moments because I know when she’s older and gets involved in activities this may become harder.

5. Choose Vocab Carefully: I cringe when I hear the terms “good” food or “bad” food the same way I do if I hear the term “good kid” or “bad kid”. Eating ice cream shouldn’t make you feel bad or guilty and can lead to unhealthy behaviors (I’m sure many of us can relate because that was more common how we grew up). It was important for me to have her understand that a healthy diet can include all food, and that some foods should be eaten more than others. My approach was to have her understand the impact certain foods had on us. For example oranges have vitamins that help you not get sick and donuts have a lot of sugar, which can make it hard for you to sleep. Where does that leave us now? She has a sweet tooth like me so she’ll still ask for the ice cream (as the ice cream truck seems to have a permanent home on our block), but she understands when I say no to all of the items in the checkout line, that it’s because I’m looking out for her health. Although she may not be happy with not getting ice cream every time she asks, she doesn’t feel like she’s eating something bad or forbidden when we do indulge.

6. Anatomy and Physiology Lessons: Okay, I know this isn’t difficult for me given my field, but my daughter’s only six so the lessons have been pretty basic. My main goal is her having an understanding about how her body works so that when I make decisions for her health or she makes decisions on her own, it’s an informed decision and not just “because my mom is making me or told me so”. It started with very basic day to day stuff, like making sure we grab our water bottles before we leave the house because our body runs on water. Or put your hand on your chest after running around and feeling how fast your heart is pumping. It’s also using appropriate names for body parts like vagina or perhaps a bit extreme, “abrasions” instead of “boo boos”. It’s been simple to provide her with this information as we go through our day and now that she has some understanding she is very comfortable talking about all of her body parts. What impresses me the most is that she’s moved down the spectrum of behavior change from having the knowledge, to having a positive attitude about health, to now making decisions that she feels are best for her. These decisions range from going to her room to lay down when she’s feeling grumpy, to drinking more water when she is sick, to asking me which foods on her plate will give her the protein for strong muscles.

As I mentioned in part one, this is somewhat unsolicited mom advice, and what works for me, may not work for you. But, as I’m sure you know from experience, habits learned at an early age (for better or worse) tend to stick longer and are easier to adopt. So if there is something that’s important to you, a healthy habit you want your kids to always know…then keep at it. Find a way to have a healthy family.

Need help getting yourself healthy, so you can be the role model you want to be? Schedule a free phone call with me and I’ll point you in the right direction.

Six Healthy Habits I'm Happy I Stuck With (Part One)

WARNING UNSOLICITED MOM ADVICE. I felt it important to start with that disclaimer because mom groups, social media and blogs are full of advice for you on how to be a mom and the choices you should make for your child. Now that may sound slightly cynical, but it’s not meant to. Because certainly there are times where that unsolicited advice is needed and welcomed because you learn that many of us moms are going through the same thing, that you’re not alone and that there are solutions. However the same advice can be overwhelming because similar to fitness, there is no one size fits all approach to parenting.

Camelback Mountain, Poconos

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So now that I’ve given my disclaimer, I’m going to share with you Six Healthy Habits (2 part post) that I believe has made a difference in my daughter's health and perspective of what healthy is. This all comes from a week of reflection as she turned six...hence the 6 tips. Hopefully you can find that one of these is helpful and makes sense for you and your family. And if you don’t agree with any of them, I hope you at least enjoy the perspective that no matter how hard it is to maintain the habits when your kids are toddlers/preschoolers, it can prove to be worth it when they’re a bit older.

1. Ditch the stroller early. I can remember how long it would take to get places by having her walk instead of ride in a stroller at the age of one and two, but in the long run it was worth the pain. She saw walks as something enjoyable as she got to explore the environment around her. She saw walks as a necessity to get somewhere. She saw walks as something we can do together. So now, at the age of six one of her favorite requests is if we can go “explore the city today”. And that’s usually good for a few miles of activity for the both of us.

2. No Treats or Snacks. Before you gasp, we eat snacks but I’ve always been very careful as to what I labeled as “snack foods” and try to stay away from the word “treat”. I’ll explain both. Marketing would like to have us think not only are there specific foods that should be eaten between meals, but that there are also specific snacks that kids should eat. I don’t love those concepts. Instead I’d often give her leftover salmon from dinner for her afternoon snack or ice cream before dinner because I didn’t want her to think of it as a reward, but rather a food we can enjoy once in a while. Where does that leave us now that she’s six? One, we get to enjoy the occasional cookie for breakfast and its no big deal, and two, we avoid too much processed foods because she doesn’t always expect goldfish or crackers between meals.

3. Make Fitness a Family Affair. This is one that I talk about often and somewhat the basis of my business name Active Mom Fitness. To be a mom that is physically active, fit and feels good moving, well...you have to be just that, an “active mom”. And we all know how time consuming kids are, so one solution is to make some of that active or exercise time a family event. This can mean working out together, it can mean walking together, it can mean you getting in a 10 minute workout while “watching” your kid’s gymnastics class. If I removed all of the time I’ve spent exercising with or around my daughter, the amount of activity I have gotten over the years would probably decrease by at least 50%. And where does that leave her and I now? She understands the importance of activity and enjoys participating with me. As an added bonus she is confident and comfortable with physical activity.

Thanks for reading. I’m sure there are some habits that are important to you, but that you’re feeling are difficult to stay consistent with (especially when it comes to nutrition and exercise with kids). My unsolicited advice is to keep trying because it will be worth it, mama. Make sure to check out habits 4-6 in the next post.

If you like my perspective and would like me to help you manage family and fitness, contact me.