Get Active Tips

Active Family:

• Park the car. Walk or bike with your child whenever you can.
• Do fast walks through the mall. Great on rainy or snowy days.
• Declare a family fitness challenge. See who can do the most steps, dance the longest, or shoot the most baskets in 5 minutes. Get ready to have your kids beat you!
• Have a Friday night family dance party. Use old Halloween costumes or borrow clothes from other family members! 
• Clean the house to music as a family. The house will get cleaned faster and you’ll have a ball.
• Let your kids be the boss. Have them teach their favorite activity, sport, or dance moves to the rest of the family.
• Park the car at the far end of the lot. More exercise, fewer door dings.
• Choose an activity the family can learn together, where no one is an expert, and everyone is a beginner.
• Hold a family jump-rope marathon. If each jump counts as 1 foot, can your family team jump as high as The Kodak Tower (360 feet) or The Xerox Tower (443 feet)?

Watch Less:

• Make a family TV viewing plan and stick to it. When the show’s over, turn it off!
• Pull the TV and computer out of your child’s room. They keep kids from doing more active things.
• Keep phones, games, and iPods out of your child’s room at night.
• Make a few days each week screen-free days. 
• Insist that your babysitter find screen-free activities for your kids.
• Make TV time active time. Have contest with your kids during the commercials. See who can do the most jumping jacks or leg lifts.
• Never use screen time as a reward. This can make the TV or computer seem even more important to children.
• Turn off the TV. Pause the video game. Put away the cell phone during meals. Family meals are a great time to catch up with each other. Plus, when we concentrate on our meal, we tend to over-eat less. 

Get Active:

• Let’s hear it for chores. Give your child little jobs that make them move. Take out the garbage, pick up toys—you get the idea.
• Play comes first. Let your child run around after school, then hit the homework.
• Ask your babysitter to do active things with your child.
• Watch that lamp! Create a safe play area where kids can play hard without breaking stuff.
• Have a bike washing party. Pull ‘em out and make ‘em shine.
• Give gifts that gets the kids moving like balls, skates, jump ropes, and mitts. Save money by buying them used.
• Make birthday parties and other family gatherings active occasions. Hike, ice skate, and have sack and relay races.
• Get your children to help you rake, weed, and plant. A great activity for them and a lot easier on your back.
• Ditch the car wash. Have a family car-wash-atom in your driveway.
• Bring outside games inside on rainy days. Use rolled-up socks, crumpled newspapers, or Nerf™ balls to shoot hoops, score soccer goals, or play hockey.
• The best games are ones your kids make up. Join in! You’ll be setting a great example and making fun memories for a lifetime.
• Don’t forget you, mom! If you’re more active, your kids will follow suit.