On a scale of 1-10, how healthy do you think your family is? I think my family is probably about an 8.
We are pretty active each day. We have a large backyard so we play kick-ball, T-ball, tag, etc., quite frequently. When the weather is not great for outdoor activities, freeze dance is a favorite indoor game to get the wiggles out.
As for eating together, that can be more of a struggle. Each of my kids have a ton of extracurricular activities. We try to eat together as a family at least 3 times a week. We are working on doing this more often.
Here are some key habits to promote a healthy family.
Discuss good nutrition
Talk about good nutrition with your kids. Explain the need to eat food from the various food groups and how foods help us maintain good health.
Make healthy eating easy
Kids will often eat food that is easily available and ready to be eaten. Encourage your kids to eat more fruits and vegetables by making them just as convenient as sugary snacks. For example, place baby carrots in small bags on an easily accessible shelf in the refrigerator.
Plan meals together
Get your kids involved in creating family menus. Take them shopping to have them help select foods they would like to try. Have them read food labels to better understand the nutrition content as well.
Play together every day.
Here are some ideas:
Create a friendly competition: Make a dance party with points awarded for the best moves. Who in your family can take the most steps in a day, do the most push-ups, or twist into the most complicated yoga pose?
Step up the Silly Factor: go all out with crazy costumes and crazier moves. If you’re taking a family walk, tell jokes or sing goofy songs as you go. Silliness is definitely a favorite for my family.
Be Newbies Together: As a family, choose a new sport and learn it together. Martial arts, horseback riding, and dance are especially well-suited to varying ages and skill levels. Last winter, I took skating lessons with my daughter. I had not been on skates in years so it was really fun to try it together.
I’m happy that my family is here visiting and allowing us to actually eat together lately. It’s really the precious moments like these that count. Not to mention, my parents tend to eat healthier than me so they’re a wonderful influence when they’re here.
I love these tips, hubby and I want to get more active again after we move. We both had surgeries last year which kept us down. These are great!
I love experimenting with dinner time – especially with great music and silly table dances
We try to turn outings into mini adventures, and definitely encourage being silly!
These are great tips! It’s good to be reminded of how important it is for a family to eat together as often as possible.
How do we get kids away from M&C and Nuggets??? That’s what I want to know. So gald you are supplimenting!
I love being silly – it makes parenting more fun!
For living healthy life it is important to eat well and healthy food. It is good to add natural healthy food in diet. Food effects on our health so people should eat healthy food to maintain health and fitness.
This is a great post. Whilst I think it’s certainly very important to instill healthy values in the little ones, exercising together as a family can be great for the older generation too. For grandparents, gentle exercise such as walking round the park can help to keep joints and muscles healthy – and everyone can enjoy the time spent together!
I try to model for them – they see me eating well and being active, they tend to do the same. Great ideas here!