Tips for Family Fitness

Family exercise will improve the health of your loved ones, make exercise more fun, and at the same time develop stronger connections between all of you. With a little creativity, you can find a way to make it work for everyone.

When physical activity is a family affair, your child is less likely to perceive it as a chore, but instead it is something they look forward to each day. There are endless physical activities you can do together as a family. Talk about what activities each family member enjoys, then come up with a schedule of activities that fit in your schedule. Some ideas include swimming, hiking, biking to a neighborhood park, horseback riding, bowling, dancing, tennis, racquet ball and in-line skating

With infants, you should encourage motor development. Toddlers should get maybe 1/2 hour of planned physical activity and 60 minutes unstructured physical activity. Preschoolers, 60 minutes planned physical activity and 60 minutes unstructured physical activity. School age children should get 2 hour or more. Break up into bouts of 15 minutes or more.

Start your child in an individual sport such as tennis, racquetball or squash. It's easier to organize one-on-one competitions and easier to schedule. This is important when you're trying to make exercise consistent. If you find one regular partner for your child (it could be yourself, a sibling, or a neighbor), you've helped your child have fun while consistently getting physical activity.

If the family is watching TV together, turn commercial breaks into fitness. Do easy squats or jumping jacks together before the program comes back on. Go for pre or post dinner walks. Just a walk around the block can make such a difference and try to have fun with it and play silly games to make it fun.

Many sports, such as basketball, are great aerobic activities that anyone can play. You just need a ball and an opponent. Make it fun for everyone. Traditional sports like volleyball and softball are great as well. And on rainy days, you can still get some fitness done indoors. Act out a story as someone reads it or play a game of twister.

Don't forget about children's games. Kids can come up with the most inventive, active, crazily cool games around. Why should they have all the fun? Join in! You can worry about what other people think about you playing Beanbag Tag while they're stuck on the treadmill.