Family Fitness Tips

  1. Try to plan time during the week for physical activity with you and your child.
  2. Everyone in the family should take turns choosing an activity for the family each week.
  3. Purchase equipment and toys that are interactive and promote physical activity (dance videos/music, jump ropes, hula hoops, balls).
  4. Make sure you have specific play areas outside and inside the house where your children are allowed to run, jump, climb, and tumble.
  5. Keep the amount of time watching TV, videos, and playing video games to a minimum.
  6. Instead of using food or TV as a reward, use a physical activity (e.g. canoeing, bike riding together).
  7. Fix nutritional snacks and meals at home and for school.
  8. Make sure you have fresh vegetables and fruit cut and washed in the refrigerator as healthy snacks.
  9. Be an advocate for keeping physical education a priority in the school curriculum.
  10. Encourage your children to participate in after-school programs that promote physical activity and a healthy lifestyle.
  11. Do not force your children to clean their plates. Let them decide when they have had enough to eat.
  12. Have fun together outside, camping or hiking as a family.
  13. Ask the other families in your neighborhood to get together a couple of times a month for a game of soccer or basketball.
  14. Include the kids in household chores that involve physical activity, walking the dog, washing the car, shoveling snow.
  15. Be careful not to eat at fast food restaurants too often.
  16. Practice what you preach. Try and be a good example of living a healthy lifestyle to give your children someone to look up to.