Did you know that only around one-quarter of kids get the 60 minutes of physical activity a day that experts recommend?

If you’re concerned that your own children are less active than you would like, or perhaps you’re worried about other areas of their fitness – and maybe your own too – what can you do about it? The good news is there are lots of options; read about some of them below so you can start putting these plans into action.

Play In The Backyard 

Of course, this idea is going to depend a lot on whether or not you have a backyard if you are going to follow it to the letter, but no matter where you are playing, the basic idea stays the same – running around outside is good for everyone. 

If you do have a backyard, that’s useful as it means you can do this anytime you want to. Otherwise, where is your nearest playing field, play area, or park? These will work just as well (especially if you can walk to them, giving you another opportunity to exercise). 

The reason these outdoor games like tag, running races, and football are so great is that the children won’t even realize they are being active and exercising; they’ll just be having fun. This means that they’ll grow to enjoy exercise more as they get older and keep up the habit. 

Practice Healthy Eating Habits 

Your child’s health will benefit from a healthy breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as enough water throughout the day. A healthy breakfast with protein, dairy, and whole grains leads to good behavior throughout the day and makes it easier for your child to focus and concentrate.

Family dinner is a great way to end the day. Having meals with family is good for your health and happiness, and on top of this, it can keep you from getting tired, improve your mood, help you digest food, keep your weight steady, and make your brain work better. Make healthy recipes that you all eat together, and perhaps you can all cook them together too (this will help children understand what goes into a well-balanced diet). A great example to try out that everyone will love is this recipe for turkey chili in a slow cooker. 

You should also encourage everyone to drink healthy drinks like water and milk. Limit or get rid of drinks with a lot of sugar or caffeine because caffeine can make your child’s heart beat faster and raise their blood pressure. It can also keep them from sleeping and make them nervous and irritable.

Do Some Active Volunteer Work

Some types of volunteer work involve staying inside and perhaps telling hospital visitors which direction to go in or serving food to those in need. Some, however, are a lot more active, and if you have a choice, this is the kind of volunteering to go for if one of the reasons for doing it is to get healthy (although any kind of volunteering is a positive thing). 

Litter picking is an example of a more active kind of volunteering option. Then there are the causes for which you can actually build houses. Or perhaps cleaning out animal enclosures is something that interests you. Anything like this is great, but just make sure that if you want your children to be involved they are old enough to do so as there might be some restrictions. 

Clean The House 

Cleaning is another thing you can do at home to stay in shape. When everyone works together on this project, it gets done a lot faster. Washing windows is a great way to work out your arms, and moving furniture around will help you get stronger in your core. Any chore can be a chance to shape up an area and keep your house in order at the same time.

As well as keeping your kids active and healthy, doing housework gives them a sense of responsibility, and it teaches them skills they’ll need when they move out of home and have to clean their own homes. 

Wash Your Hands – A Lot 

Everyone is a lot more conscious of how much they need to wash their hands these days, and that can only be a good thing. It’s also something to teach your children about to help them stay healthy. Teach your children to wash their hands while singing “Happy Birthday” twice (it should take a total of 20 seconds). That way, you know they’re doing it for long enough. If you know your child won’t have access to running water wherever they are going, stock up on hand sanitizer and make sure they thoroughly wash their hands when they get home.