10 tips to get you and your family moving
The connection between physical activity and mental health is closer than you might think. Research has found that our body and mind influence each other. When you and your family get enough movement, it can help manage anxiety, depression, and stress, to name a few. It's important to balance physical activity with healthy sleep habits and healthy nutritional choices. Understandably, sometimes the balance can be difficult. Consider some of these tips to get your family moving.
- Be a role model
- Children tend to mimic the type of lifestyle that their parents or guardians are following.
- Teach your child a new activity, participate in activities your child likes, and move with your young family members.
- Use physical activity as transportation
- Walk your kids to school, bike or skate to a local park, park your car at the far end of parking lots for more steps, or take the stairs together instead of the elevator.
- Involve the whole family
- Volunteer to coach your child's team or club.
- Register for a family-friendly class such as dancing or martial arts.
- Go to the beach, take a hike, and participate in young family member's sports or events outside of school for motivation and overall engagement.
- Focus on fun
- Involve music and add more walking/steps while doing any activity.
- Discover what your child enjoys and make it active. For example, try building race tracks for toy cars.
- Make physical activity social
- Invite friends to join in activities such as bounce houses, swimming, and mini-golf.
- Find activities that involve your local community, such as Blue Zone Project Monterey, a community-wide wellbeing improvement initiative that offers free community classes and events, beach clean-ups, walks and more.
- Use competition as a motivator
- Children enjoy competition. Try seeing who can jump the highest in the family or track the whole family’s physical activity score and award prizes for earned achievements.
- Include children in household activities
- Find ways to make chores fun and rewarding to keep them active at home.
- Give options and provide feedback to encourage your children.
- Give gifts that promote physical activity
- Give gifts that promote movement such as roller-skates, bicycles, sporting equipment, a Fitbit or another smart watch for tracking activity levels, a gym membership, or choose an active video game with respect to screen time.
- Limit TV and other devices
- Offer active options such as signing up for an after-school club/program, joining a sports team, or attending a local recreation center.
- Stand up while watching TV or while on other devices.
- Plan active vacations and holidays
- Plan to add physical activities into your vacation plans. Go hiking, kayaking, swimming, camping, biking, or walk to destinations.
- Exposing your family to new activities cay lead to active hobbies that your family enjoys for years to come.
