First, don’t call it working out — or exercise. It’s about playing together.
The family that plays together, stays healthy together. Research shows how influential — for better or worse — the lifestyle choices of family members are. Fortunately, being active together needn’t be a drag. Children don’t really need any help working out, says Prentiss Rhodes, a personal trainer, and a master instructor with the National Academy of Sports Medicine, based in Scottsdale, Arizona. “You just need to set the example and want to participate and leverage their imagination and games that they would naturally play,” he says. Here are some ways you can get your whole family moving — without making it feel like a chore:
Have a dance party in your living room.
Don’t know how to dance? Perfect. Your kids will get an extra kick out of that. Rhodes says he’s “definitely not a dancer” — but it doesn’t stop him. That’s because his nearly 8-year-old daughter is — she’s in ballet. “We dance together and that’s how we bond and spend time together,” he says. Whether ballet or hip hop-inspired or something else entirely, dancing isn’t limited by any discipline — you can just make up the moves as you go and get a great all-around workout. Claudine Cooper, a Los Angeles-based group fitness instructor, says she and her husband and three kids ages 8, 10 and 13 sometimes have dance offs in their living room.
Yoga for the whole family.
The perks of yoga range from helping with stress management and reducing anxiety to improving sleep. And it’s not just adults who stand to benefit: Kids are increasingly being invited to join in, with classes tailored to young children. “Parents really recognize that their kids at every age and every stage are growing up in a really stressful, highly competitive environment that just becomes moreso the older their kids get,” says Alexandra De Collibus, founder of Sweet Pea Yoga in Southborough, Massachusetts. She teaches parent-child yoga classes for babies through age 5 and “drop-off” kids yoga classes for children ages 5 to 14 years. Flexibly, families wanting to strike a pose together can do so in a class or at home.
Participate in a fitness event that doesn’t feel like one.
There’s no shortage of options from zombie-apocalypse-themed runs to The Color Run, aka “the Happiest 5k on the Planet” — “where they shoot all kinds of crazy colors at you and you end up like a rainbow at the end,” says Dena Snyder of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, speaking from experience participating with her family. It’s all about making exercising relaxed and playful, adds Snyder, the mother of 6- and 9-year-old daughters, Phoebe and Ella, who she’s taken to yoga classes taught by De Collibus since participating in the parent-child classes De Collibus offers, as well as practicing yoga herself. That means meeting kids where they are — like running and walking with them (as Snyder does with her younger daughter) as needed.
Hop on two wheels multiplied by whatever your family number is.
Whether you pedal on an established trail and have training wheels on the kids’ bikes or a bike trailer in tow with the little ones, or whiz down the open road with older kids, biking is open to families at various stages, ages and abilities. “Once everybody can balance on the bike, it’s easy,” Rhodes says. In his family, his wife — who has experience as a triathlete — is the most likely one to take off on two wheels, and it’s something family members can do together. “Bike riding is her thing with my daughter,” he says. Rhodes, meanwhile, also finds riding out into the desert where they live, and taking in the landscape and fresh air, therapeutic.
Join forces with other families.
Why not spread the infectious impulse to move and groove together beyond your clan? Whether you plan to run or ride — or whatever strikes your fancy — call up other families to see if they’ll join yours to mix things up and make it a social outing. “When you start to include your friends and family, you’re not only making an impact on your family to be healthier, but you’re also giving that to your friends and family and your community,” says Cooper, who is also a community health advocate. And bringing the village into play can make physical activities all the more appealing to parents and kids.
Struggle through a workout — or fall down and get back up again — in front of your kids.
OK, so this isn’t exactly a planned activity — but that’s precisely the point. Snyder says her family cheers each other on, including when she or another family member is struggling to complete a workout. Kids tend to “have this image of Mom and Dad: superheroes with capes, and I put myself in positions where [my daughter] sees me fall down,” Rhodes adds — literally — like when they went ice skating together, and she witnessed him fall down a couple times, while trying a new skill, and get back up. “That set off something in her where she didn’t feel bad about making a mistake or messing up,” he says. “That was an incredible confidence booster for her.”
Let the kids take the lead.
Honestly, how often do your kids get to call the shots in their young lives? “With our family … we do like a little boot camp. My kids pretend like they’re the instructor for the group, then they’ll tell us to do push-ups,” Cooper says. “So it also encourages them to be comfortable giving direction and owning responsibility by telling us what to do — and then we have to follow along — like an active version of Simon Says.” Not sure where to start? If your kids are in school, she recommends asking what they do in their PE class and taking it from there.
Pick up that game of tag you quit playing years ago.
Kids love playing tag, Rhodes points out — in case you’ve forgotten. Giving chase for any length of time can be a great workout. Or just see who’s fastest. “I have a couple of clients who enjoy racing their kids,” Rhodes says. The point is to dive into your kids’ world to make activity more natural. During family get-togethers or when his daughter has school friends over, not every kid is into dance or sports, he says. Fortunately tag has a very low barrier to entry. “We can run, and there’s that aspect of play. Some kids are into video games, so we act out scenes of video games, and they think that’s the best thing ever,” he says.
Stuck inside? Unplug electronics for screen-free family play.
Cooper, who is originally from Minnesota, admits that she’s spoiled living in Southern California. A great climate means it’s easy to get outside. However, even when the weather doesn’t cooperate, and in colder climes, turning off screens can spur kids’ imaginations to engage in family activities. “Because necessity is the mother of invention,” Cooper reminds. That could involve a particularly active game of charades or acting out a favorite scene from a movie (think action), two other options Rhodes suggests. Cooper recommends committing to at least 30 minutes of being active as a family after turning screens off.
Hit the trail.
Even in areas that get more wintry weather, dressing appropriately may be all that’s needed to get out the door together. From there, access the many mind and body benefits of so-called green exercise — essentially being active in nature — by taking a hike. “Like biking, it’s something that everyone can do together, and it puts you out in the environment where you’re enjoying scenery and the sensory experience that being outdoors gives you — and when you’re not watching a clock,” Rhodes says, “waiting for an exercise to be done.”
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10 Fun, Fresh Ways to Work Out Together as a Family originally appeared on usnews.com
