Finding opportunities to get exercise when you’re in charge of a household can be challenging. After working so hard to take care of your family’s needs, you likely don’t feel like you need a workout — just a good nap!
Luckily, there’s a way to help everyone in your family (including you!) get exercise. Not only are these good family bonding opportunities, but exercising together helps set a good example to your kids that physical activity is important to incorporate throughout their lives.
Different members of your family need access to different types of physical activity in different durations. The Centers for Disease Control has a breakdown of recommended physical activity for all ages.
Here are a few activities that can connect the whole family.
Whether you’re going on a brisk walk or taking bikes out for a spin on a local paved trail, these two forms of exercise are great to do together. Depending on the ages of the members of your family, you can pair adults walking with younger children biking, so you can help them learn to balance and navigate without losing your own balance in the process!
This is also a great way to expose your kids to nature. Having access to the outdoors can help with cognitive functioning, lower stress, and build bonds with your family, research shows.
You might be skeptical that your children (or you!) can practice yoga or meditation. But there are many great resources online to help facilitate this, and receive great benefits. Yoga and meditation can help improve concentration and reduce stress, for all members of your family.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve never practiced yoga yourself. The great thing about yoga is it’s accessible for people of all ages and skill levels because every pose can be adapted to what feels good for you. The New York Times has a resource of several poses for beginners, but you can also check out videos to help walk you through these practices. One of the most popular yoga YouTube channels, Yoga with Adriene, has hundreds of videos sorted by theme, including ones specifically designed for kids.
Your children might already be familiar with meditation thanks to a growing movement of practicing mindfulness in schools, the Wall Street Journal reports. They add that practicing at home may certainly be different at first, and requires a sense of humor. Headspace for Kids is a great resource to help get you started. Remember, starting out small, even for a few minutes a day, will help kids learn how to settle down at home, whether that’s for bed time or when they’re upset.
Not only can your family get a great workout together, but you can also get some chores done.
Yardwork and chores have great physical benefits, and when you’re doing them with a team of people, they can get done faster (We all learned that from Mary Poppins, afterall.)
While adults push the lawnmower and adolescents help weekwack, younger children can pull weeds, plant flowers, or water the plants. Pushing a vacuum, scrubbing the tub, and sweeping the floor all get your body moving and help strengthen muscles. Just make sure no one is unnecessarily straining themselves or lifting objects that are too heavy for them. Make a cleaning playlist with each member of your family’s favorite tunes, to make the workout more fun (this is what Mary Poppins would call a spoonful of sugar).
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