How to keep the whole family physically active while at home

Are you trying to find ways to keep your family physically engaged?

Unless physical exertion is impossible from medical conditions or other factors, your family’s overall health is, in part, determined by how well they can handle physical exertion.

But with the way things have been changing over the past few years, it is hard for many people to keep their families physically active outside of their homes. And even in situations where you can still go away from home, such opportunities might fail to present themselves due to many reasons.

Still, this does not mean that you should give up on it altogether. Physical activity has been shown to improve the overall physical and mental health of your entire family.

How then can we keep our families active without stepping away from home?

Here are some great ways of keeping your whole family physically active while at home.

Limit screen time

According to BBC, children tend to spend more than 6 hours a day on screen time every day. It is recommended that they spend 2 hours of screen time a day.

If you have kids, how many hours do they spend in front of a screen?

How about you as parents?

You might be surprised to realize that combined, you spend most of your time looking at a screen every day. This leaves you with very little time in your day to indulge in anything physical. The result will be an unhealthy family.

A great way to end this is to limit the amount of screen time at home. You don’t necessarily need to cut it all out altogether because this might breed resentment. Simply reduce the amount of time say by 2 hours and allocate that time for some physical activity around the house.

Build up to this to a point where you only have an hour or so of screen time without anyone feeling like they are missing out on anything.

Choose your toys wisely

Toys are a great part of your kids’ growth. However, not all toys are the same. The kind of toys you pick will determine their level of physical activity. For example, toys such as dolls and action figures are not likely to encourage a lot of movement. On the other hand, toys such as a trampoline, balls, jumping ropes, roller skates, etc. will keep your kids on the move and encourage more physical activity.

This does not mean that you should exclusively buy your kids toys that encourage physical activity. Mixing them up a bit to ensure a healthy balance is a great way to go about it. Also, it helps if you join in on your kids’ playtime every now and then. This will help you bond and keep you physically active as well.

Plant a garden

If you are in a position to plant a garden with your family, by all means, start doing so.

Planting a garden helps your family’s physical health in 3 ways:

1. By digging, moving plants, soil, garden waste, and moving around in different positions, your family members will be using and increasing their physical strength. Also, gardening might expose them to the sun and healthy bacteria which comes with a fair share of benefits.
2. Gardening, especially one that involves healthy foods such as vegetables, is going to encourage your family members to eat better. This, combined with the physical activity of gardening, will have plenty of health benefits.
3. Gardening is an excellent way of ensuring the mental well-being of your family members. Other than the fact that the physical aspect of it will help in their mental health, gardening encourages other aspects such as a growth mindset which will set them up for success.

Have a scheduled playtime as a family

It is also possible to set aside some playtime with your family to boost their physical activity. This playtime should involve some physical games such as tag or racing to ensure that everyone keeps moving. You can decide to have it every day, say a few hours after dinner, or schedule a weekly play day where everyone will be required to participate.

By playing as a family, you will be encouraging physical activity as well as bonding better.

Work on chores together

Chores are a great way of adding some much-needed physical activity to your day. There are plenty of chores that will keep the heart pumping and your family healthier.

Chores such as raking leaves, shoveling snow, or cleaning the driveway will keep everyone physically active while maintaining your home at the same time.

In the end, you will have a cleaner, well-maintained home, and a healthier family.

Conclusion

Whatever you decide to do keeping your family physically active does not need special equipment, neither does it need to happen outside your home. Also, you don’t need to spend a ton of money buying fancy equipment. Most homes have everything you need to keep everyone active and healthy without having to take any excess measures.

 

Story by Jason Walker. Walker has a passion for traveling, meeting people and animals. He studied English and wants to pursue a career in writing in order to familiarize, inform and educate readers, especially the youth, about diverse topics. He is a content writer for the blog GameQuarium.