Keeping The Kids Involved

If you are a parent, you know the struggle of having kids and also trying to make time for your overall health and fitness goals.

Here are some ideas that we came up with to help you maintain your healthy lifestyle while involving your kids in the process.

Healthy Eating with Kids:

• Do you meal prep? Well, while you are doing your ritualistic meal prepping, you might have kids begging you to play with them, or maybe climbing on you and slowing down the process. Instead of getting irritated or letting it stop you from keeping up the healthy routine, involve your kids and have them prepare their own meals too. Explain to them why you are doing it and have them pack their own lunches for the week.
• Protein shake fanatic? Make your kids one too. They will love to feel involved. There are some great meal shakes for kids that you can find at your local whole food store, or you can just blend up some fruit for a healthy smoothie that is somewhat similar to yours.
• Need water? Sometimes as a parent you may get so caught up in helping your kids or with your insane schedule that you might forget to remember the little things that you need to do to be healthy. For example drinking water. To help remind you and your kids to drink enough water, make a game out of it. Teach them the importance of drinking enough water during the day, get some water bottles that you can draw on the side with markers and say that whoever drinks the most water by the end of the day wins a prize. They will like the competition and I am sure they are bound to remind you about their progress during the day, keeping you that much more motivated to keep up.

Working out with Kids:

Are you are struggling to make time for the gym, due to babysitters or conflicting schedules with your spouse, and you are having to take more days off of the gym then you would like? Try taking your kids outside and making exercising part of their routine as well as yours. A few ideas to get the kids up and going:

• Pick a sport, and get passionate about it. Baseball for example; you could buy your kids some equipment and take them to a nearby park and teach them to swing, catch and run bases. They will love the time that they get to spend with you and they’ll be getting some great outdoor exercise.
• Need some cardio? Easy! You can take them with you on a run, either in a stroller or have them ride a bike beside you. If they aren’t interested in either of those options, you can teach them the importance of being active and have them run with you. You can make this activity a game by having them compete with you.
• Teach them to do what you do. If you like to do fitness videos on the days that you can’t go to the gym, show them how it is done and get them to follow along. Or, you could teach them to do push-ups and other fun workouts, as well as test your own limits and use them for some extra weight. For some fun examples of this, CLICK HERE.
• Take advantage of the VASA KidCare! If you are needing some extra gym time, and those extra days off just aren’t helping, sign up for our awesome KidCare program.  You can bring your kids with you to the gym and let them play in the daycare room while you get your much needed workout and you time. And BONUS, you can see them from the TV screens in the gym, that way you can keep an eye out and know that they are having fun. If you are interested in adding this to your membership, talk to the front desk and they will help you out. If you want a little more information on the program CLICK HERE.

Do you have any creative ways to keep your kids involved with your healthy lifestyle?

Comment below, we would love to hear them.