How to get your family active is something I’ve found myself thinking about more as the children have got older. I don’t know about your house, but getting everyone away from their screens and out of the door seems to get harder with age. When they’re little, you can suggest going to the park and they’re halfway to the front door before you’ve even found their shoes. As they get older, you’re competing with phones, gaming, YouTube and the general horror of being asked to leave the sofa.
And, if I’m being fair, sometimes I’m just as bad.
After a busy week, there are definitely weekends when the last thing I fancy doing is anything remotely energetic. But I nearly always feel better once we’ve actually got outside and done something.
Over the years I’ve realised that getting your family active isn’t really about exercise. In fact, mentioning the word exercise is probably the quickest way to put everyone off! It’s more about finding things you can do together that happen to involve getting off the sofa and moving.
Comfort makes a difference as well, especially if you’re going to be doing lots of walking or running. Decent trainers are worth having, and you can also look at supportive shoe inserts if you want a little extra support inside your running shoes.
So, how do you actually get everyone moving without it turning into another family argument?
Stop Making It Sound Like Exercise
This is probably the biggest thing I’ve learnt.
If I announced that we were all going outside to “do some exercise”, I can pretty much guarantee the reaction I’d get. Suggest going somewhere for the day, taking the dog for a long walk, heading to the park or going out on the bikes and it suddenly sounds far more appealing.
The end result is basically the same – everyone is moving.
It doesn’t need to be a big organised activity either. Sometimes we put so much pressure on ourselves to plan lovely family days that we forget the easy things.
A football and an open space will do. So will a walk around the local park.
Sport England has some good advice about getting moving and finding activities you actually enjoy. I think that last part is particularly important. If you hate running, forcing yourself to run three times a week probably isn’t going to last very long.
The same applies to children.
Find the things they enjoy and start there.
Walking Is Underrated
I’ve definitely appreciated walking more as I’ve got older.
It costs nothing, you don’t need to book it and, apart from a decent pair of shoes and possibly a waterproof (this is Britain, after all), you don’t need any special equipment.
It’s also one of those activities that can fit around normal family life.
We’ll walk somewhere rather than drive if we have the time, or go out for a walk at the weekend when we’ve been stuck indoors for too long.
If you have younger children who complain that walking is boring approximately four minutes after leaving the house, give them something else to concentrate on.
A scavenger hunt works brilliantly when they’re little. Look for different coloured front doors, birds, flowers, conkers or whatever happens to be around.
For older children, choosing somewhere with an actual destination tends to work better. A café at the end of a walk can be surprisingly motivational. I’m including myself in that.
Let The Children Choose Sometimes
One thing that can make a big difference is giving everyone a say in what you do.
You could have a family activity jar and let everyone add ideas to it. They don’t need to be expensive days out. You could include things like:
- go swimming
- have a kickabout in the park
- go for a bike ride
- walk somewhere new
- try geocaching
- go bowling
- visit the woods
- play rounders
- go roller skating
- have a dance competition at home
Pick one out when you have a free weekend and see where you end up.
I quite like the idea of everyone choosing because otherwise it’s very easy for Mum to become the family’s unpaid entertainment manager, desperately trying to think of something everybody will agree to.
Good luck with that.
Try Something You’ve Never Done Before
This can be great fun, particularly when the adults are just as useless at it as the children.
We spend years telling our kids that they should try new things, but I think it’s good for them to see us doing the same.
Depending on the age of your children, you could try paddleboarding, climbing, kayaking, badminton, tennis or roller skating.
You might love it. You might discover that you have absolutely no natural talent for it whatsoever.
Either way, you’ve got out of the house and probably had a laugh.
And if you find something everyone genuinely enjoys, even better.
Don’t Get Hung Up On The Numbers
There are official recommendations around how active children should be. UK guidance says children and young people aged 5 to 18 should aim for an average of at least 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity a day across the week. You can read the full physical activity guidelines for children and young people on GOV.UK.
That might sound a lot when you first read it, particularly if you have a child who would happily spend the entire weekend attached to a games console.
But it doesn’t have to be an hour-long workout.
Walking to school counts. Running around with friends counts. Riding a bike counts. Swimming, dancing and playing football all count.
Even little bursts of activity throughout the day add up.
Personally, I’d rather concentrate on making being active a normal part of family life than constantly counting minutes, steps and miles.
Get Outside – Even When The Weather Isn’t Perfect
Living in the UK means that if we waited for perfect weather, we’d probably spend most of the year indoors.
Obviously, nobody particularly wants to go for a lovely family walk in horizontal rain, but a bit of drizzle doesn’t have to stop you.
Get the wellies and coats out and go anyway.
Some of our nicest family days can be the really simple ones – walking through the woods, exploring somewhere new, going to the beach out of season or finding a country park we haven’t visited before.
There are plenty of ideas for keeping children moving on the Sport England website too, particularly if you’re stuck for inspiration during the school holidays.
And there’s always something quite satisfying about getting home afterwards, putting the kettle on and knowing everyone has had some fresh air.
It Doesn’t Always Need To Be A ‘Family Activity’
This is another thing I think we forget.
Being active doesn’t necessarily require loading everybody into the car and going somewhere.
Everyday things count too.
Washing the car, gardening, walking the dog, cleaning the house with music on or kicking a ball around in the garden all get you moving.
When the children are younger, even a trip to the playground is an opportunity. Rather than spending the entire time sitting on a bench, get involved occasionally. Have a go on the swings. Play tag. Take a football.
You may get some strange looks from your children once they’re teenagers, but embarrassing them is surely one of the small pleasures of parenting.
Don’t Compare Your Family To Everyone Else
Social media can make it look as though everybody else’s family spends their weekends hiking mountains, wild swimming at sunrise and eating homemade energy bars afterwards.
Meanwhile, you’re trying to persuade somebody to put their socks on.
Real family life isn’t like that.
Some weeks you might get out and do loads. Other weeks everybody is tired, the weather is awful and the most energetic thing you do is walk around the supermarket.
That’s fine.
If you have younger children, it’s worth remembering that the recommendations are different too. The NHS physical activity guidance for children under five has lots of useful information and age-appropriate ideas.
The important thing is finding what works for your family.
You don’t need to become a super-fit family overnight, buy loads of equipment or suddenly start spending every Sunday climbing a mountain.
Start small.
Go for a walk after dinner. Get the bikes out. Take a football to the park. Put some music on in the kitchen and have a dance. Try somewhere new at the weekend.
And accept that occasionally somebody will moan about it.
They might even moan for the entire first half of the walk.
But more often than not, once everyone is actually out of the house, moods improve, conversations happen and we end up enjoying ourselves.
For me, that’s the biggest reason to get your family active. Yes, we’re moving more and doing something good for our bodies, but we’re also spending proper time together.
And these days, when everyone seems to have a screen demanding their attention, I think that’s worth making the effort for.
