10-Minute Activities for Staying Fit Together
By Director of Product Development and Fit3 Trainer Tina Van Horn
If it hasn’t popped up on your calendar, let me be the first to wish you a Happy Family Wellness Month! May is the official month for celebrating family wellness, but as a mom and the gate-keeper of my family’s health, it’s another one of those tabs that is open in my brain EVERY DAY, not just one month out of the year.
Balancing Act of Family Health
There is a continuous balancing act to make sure that everyone’s physical needs are met and that their bodies are healthy, without losing sight of their social, emotional, and spiritual health! Sheesh! No wonder parents are tired! Meeting all those needs is genuinely overwhelming some days.
Spending Time Together
Family wellness is so much more than putting nutritious meals on the table and setting limits on screen time. It is also about family habits, lifestyles, and relationships! Our hectic lifestyles don’t exactly foster family wellness and certainly interfere with quality family time, which has been shown to improve behavior and academic performance, build self-esteem, encourage communication skills, and reinforce healthy habits. Seems pretty obvious how important family time is, but several recent studies have suggested that the average American family spends only about 30-40 minutes each day truly engaged with each other. When I really think about it, that statistic is probably very representative of our family.
Making Good Health a Family Value
If you are anything like me, you might be feeling a bit of “mom guilt” and anxiety when you think about all of the things we should be doing as a family. Honestly, my head is spinning a little bit just trying to figure out how to start. Just like any other lifestyle change, the trick is to start slow. If you were starting a new fitness routine, I would suggest starting with 10 minutes, so why not apply that same strategy to family wellness?
I’m pretty sure we can all carve out an extra 10 minutes of family time each day to build connections, but if your kids aren’t into just sitting around for 10 minutes of conversation, here are a few activities that will get everybody involved:
- Plan and prepare simple meals or snacks together – scrambled eggs, grilled cheese, PB&J
- Look through family photo albums together or watch family videos
- Volunteer or do a service project together – walk dogs at the animal shelter, help a neighbor with yardwork
- Test a new Reliv shake recipe together or make up your own – it’s ok to add a few chocolate chips or some sprinkles!
- Plant and grow something together – flowers, vegetables, herbs
- Make up “conversation cards” with fun, open-ended questions that everybody can answer – e.g., if you were an animal, what would you be and why? If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
- Move together – walk, jump rope, play tag, hide and seek, dance, or play follow-the-leader
- Plan a scavenger hunt or play “I spy” around your home or neighborhood
- Read an article together, taking turns reading out loud and then discuss
- Play a board game or active video game
- Build a house of cards or line up dominoes
- Work on a jigsaw puzzle together while taking turns picking the music you listen to
- Send out birthday cards or write letters to family members
The possibilities for finding fun and creative ways to spend time together are endless. In addition to making memories that will last a lifetime, you’re also showing your love for your family. Another way you can show your family you love them is to make sure they’re getting the best of nutrition and immune support with Reliv core nutrition! Whether you’re blending up a shake for your kids, or staying hydrated while playing outdoors, feeding your family with optimal nutrition is a great way to say, “I love you!”