When was the last time you sat beside your little one, gazed at the moon underneath the blue sky? Do you have enough time to look up to the trees that sway and watch the leaves dance to the wind? A happy family time fulfills your soul. An active family is a healthy family, and health directly brings happiness.
Staying active includes staying energetic throughout the day. Your children learn from you. There are certain habits when set at an early age that will benefit your kid for life. Your kids have to follow them thoroughly. If you make them wake up early in the morning, then they will form the habit of waking up early.
If you are a gym person, your kids will learn that going to the gym is for fitness purposes. Remembering you rushing out of the house and returning sweaty, they understand the importance of exercising and staying active.
An Active and Healthy family
An active family does works in a team, and that benefits all the members of the family. It could be gardening or hiking. Your kid learns to be a team player. Seeing you cook and other members do the grocery, your child understands that running a house in itself is a team chore. And this work requires activity from all the members of the family.
A healthy Family is what they consume, the time they spend together. Your thoughts manifest to actions and activities that lead to happiness are adopted for happy living.
Peace inside the mind is another crucial point. An active body leads to an active mind and is free of chaos. If there is chaos within, then a person cannot do anything. If one member has some problem, then the other members also get submerged in it. Parenting just becomes easier.
Some Major Concerns For Family To Stay Healthy And Active:
1.Healthy Diet:
What you put inside the body is what you become. Food is the fuel inside of you to help you stay active. If you feed your children healthy meals, then it is obvious they will have good health. Healthy food also includes a balanced diet. Kids require a proper nutritional diet as per age. Growing age kids need more protein and vitamins.
Make sure kids eat ample vegetables and fruits and intake less junk food. What you eat in a year defines the health state of next year. The food provided to your kids by the school should be of good quality.
Drinking the proper amount of water flushes toxins out of the body. Make sure your child drinks water as per age requirement. If they find plain water boring, you can give them some flavored water like lime water or coconut water or other fruit seasoned water and juices. Water keeps them active throughout the day.
2.Healthy Lifestyle:
For a healthy lifestyle, staying active is the key. In other words, if you do not have a healthy lifestyle, then you will fall ill and cannot be active. Make sure your kids take a heavy breakfast. You can keep track of your kid’s BMI measurements and know the ratio. Quitting smoking and drinking as such a habit influences your kid to stay away from it.
If some diseases occur then, make sure to take good care of children. Notice how active they are. If you notice a drop in energy level then, help them intake immunity boosters.
Teach your kid to keep themselves clean and shower daily. Teach them other healthy hygiene habits like cutting nails and putting clothes inside the machine for laundry daily. Help them maintain a clean room and teach them basic cleaning skills. Cleaning is the best way to keep one active.
If your child has allergies, then make sure to feed them what they should eat. For instance, if your son has lactose intolerance, you should make sure they avoid milk or milk products. You can find other supplements for vitamin d and calcium.
3.Staying disease-free:
Treating diseases is normal but maintaining habits to not let disease in is smart! Getting proper sleep is also one of the ways. Make sure your kids and the whole family get an ample amount of sleep. A night of sleep makes sure you remain active the next day. It also helps to maintain your kid’s immune system.
In case of seasonal diseases, keep track of flu shots. Remember the next vaccine your kid has to apply. Ask the family doctor for a routine examination, set reminders for children’s vaccination.
4.Dental Appointment :
Taking your baby to the dentist can be a nightmare! The whole scenario of the doctor holding the knives and trying to pull teeth out scares them. But there is no way to escape this. It is a must for you to take your kid to the dentist.
The periodic inspection is necessary for checking the cavity. Extracting the old tooth and maintaining proper oral hygiene is crucial. Make sure gums are healthy, and the whole family brushes teeth twice a day. Using mouthwashes and flosses is a good habit.
The use of mouthwash early in the morning gives the right amount of freshness and activeness to start the day. Make sure your kids eat sweets to prevent cavities. Everybody loves sweets, but children go overboard. As a parent, you have to make sure not to let them overdo it.
5. Stable Mental Health:
It is required to maintain mental hygiene. Therapy exercises can really be beneficial for stable mental health. Some things can put your kids in trouble. These thoughts may be the reason they are inactive. Depression or involvement in drugs can be one of the causes for kids feeling lethargic.
Some other tensions or problems can occupy their minds. In such a case, the family should cheer the one who is inactive or sad. Everyone in the family needs to have stable mental health. The inactivity due to mental reasons requires interactions and sharing of things with one another. In this way, all family members are happy and active.
6.Life Skills:
There are life-important skills that your kid should know. The whole family can use these skills to remain active, healthy, and happy. Swimming helps in increasing the height of growing kids. The entire family can have refreshing time swimming. Swimming is a form of exercise, and different strokes have their benefits.
You can teach your kids swimming when they are infants. It is never too late to learn to swim. Riding a bicycle is a skill. Cycling is a good form of exercise. You can teach your kids how to swim and ride a bike at an early age. These activities will keep them active.
7.Family Time:
Your children will teach their children what they learn at your home. You can have family time doing various activities together. Activities like hiking, traveling, sightseeing, going to the zoo, going to the museum are exciting and fun.
Traveling outside the home keeps you active and healthy. During long breaks, it is good for the entire family to go for picnics or fishing.
Some Ways To Stay Active And Healthy:
Yoga And Meditation:
Yoga is a form of exercise that takes you closer to your spiritual being. Practicing yoga early in the morning calms your brain. Children can practice yoga from a young age. The different asanas serve different purposes and rejuvenate the whole body.
Practicing meditation helps in increasing the focus and concentration of young children. The whole family can take a mat out in nature and practice yoga to stay fit and active.
Sports at home:
You can form teams within the family and play sports daily. Sports can be indoors or outdoors. Playing badminton or table tennis can help you stay active and healthy. Playing football and basketball is also a great way to remain active. Indoor games like chess and table tennis keep the brain lively.
Fitness training at school:
Schools provide children with fitness training. You can aid them by asking them what they learned at school. The coaching requires repetition at home, and you can teach them if they are confused in a few of the exercises. Exercise will help your child to stay sporty at home.
You Are The Role Model:
Everything you do, remember your kids are watching you. They love you and take you as their ideal. Doing activities for yourself are the ones your kids will follow, and themselves stay active.
Keep a pet:
When your kid is lying at home lazily watching tv, your active pet wags its tails, and that compels your kid to get out of the couch. Pets are full of life and help one stay active. If you have had a bad day, then your pet cheers you up.
Getting a pet has a positive impact on kids. They become more playful and kind, and loving. Taking your dog for a walk is an activity that refreshes you and your kids. Pets like fishes calm your brain, and birds chirp to make your mood better. The whole family can play with their pet.
Home activities outside:
There are activities including skills for life outside the house that require teamwork and help everyone stay active. Gardening is a great way to make your home look better. You can teach your kids gardening techniques, and they remain active at the same time. Cleaning the leaves is also a task that the whole family can do together.
Home activities inside:
Some house chores require another hand. It could be washing dishes or even cleaning the floor. Cooking or baking together with family keeps everyone active. The result of cooking together will keep all happy as you bite into the delicacies you just cooked or baked.
Washing car or bike together:
Washing is like a mental spa, an act of cleaning anything dirty, and seeing it clean in itself is therapy. You can wash your car together with your kid. Family teamwork will make everything fun. Rather than staying at home doing nothing, it is good to clean cars or bikes.
Trip to natural place:
A trip to a natural place is an escape and is the best. The fresh air of the suburbs makes everyone happy. The garden-fresh organic fruits and veggies are worth trying. During the long summer or winter holidays, you and your family can take a trip to the suburbs and enjoy the sunset with the breeze.
The natural air will keep you active and fresh. Trips like these will fill you up with more energy to get back to urban life.
Pillow fight:
Pillow fight might sound like some movie clip to you. But pillow fights are fun, especially for your little ones. You will enjoy every bit of the giggles and excitement with your kids. Make sure to ask them to play gently, as it is only for fun. You will not regret making the bed again as it will keep everyone active and happy.
Storytelling and role-playing:
Storytelling is a great way to convey messages to kids. The role-playing will fill them with excitement you can even read kids’ favorite books. Being their favorite character will lighten their mood, and you can teach them a lot via stories.
Make them walk:
An evening walk can freshen up your mood. Take your kid with you to buy some groceries. Walking is a way to release stress and set aside thoughts. Similarly, daily walking with your kid can be a good time to know about their activity during the day.
Waking also allows walkers to have a conversation with each other. Walking keeps you active, and it is good if your child likes walking with a pet. It is worth it to get some fresh air after a long tiring day.
Play the virtual yet sporty game-like virtual table tennis:
Some virtual games can help kids remain fit. It includes games like virtual tennis, virtual cycling, virtual cricket, virtual horse racing, and many more. But these games are the best alternative for a rainy or snowy day.
Be your kid’s horse :
If your kid is in the crawling phase, then the whole family can gather around to spend time with the kids. You can place your kid on the back and crawl and give them an exciting experience. Observing your kid’s smile will make you smile and be happy. And trust me, you will burn some fat after a few rounds of being your kids’ horse.
Run with them:
Running is a form of sport and making your kids run daily is a way to have fun. You can race with your kids and watch them smile if they win. Running keeps bones strong. It helps in maintaining cardiovascular fitness. Running makes children active and in shape. Kids have an increased appetite after a nice run.
Take them out for sports:
Some recreational sports like skiing and bowling are great for the whole family. The outdoor adventure with an adrenaline rush will keep you active, and at the same time, you will have great family time. The roller coaster rides will bring smiles to your kid’s faces. They will feel lucky to have friendly parents to hang out with.
Peek a boo:
If your child is too young to play, you can still have a good time with a peek a boo. You can see your kid smiling and enjoying themselves. Watch your kids get confused and enjoy it at the same time.
Conclusion
You can have an amazing time with your family and conduct activities that help all the members stay fit, healthy and active. Run around play, laugh as you have one life to live together as a family. Cheers to family time and health. And most importantly, Happy Parenting!
