Walking with Children is Good Family Time
Spend Time Bonding with Your Family by Walking in All Seasons
May 5, 2009
Health-conscious parents look for ways to keep themselves healthy and help their children to be healthy. For everyone's health sake, parents and children need to get up and be more physically active. Many parents are also concerned about finding ways to spend quality time with their children.
Walking together as a family is one way for everyone to get the benefit of exercise while spending time together talking.
Establishing time for your family when the entire family goes for a walk, from children to parents and pets, is a great way for everyone to get some exercise while at the same time spend some quality family time together, in any season.
Family Walking is Healthy for the Whole Family
Walking is a great way for adults and children alike to experience the physical benefits of aerobic physical activity together. Walking is unique in that most everyone can walk, so children, pets and parents, even some grandparents can participate.
Walking also is one way of meeting the latest "Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans" released in October 2008 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that recommend people get anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes a day of moderate physical activity.
According to these new Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, adults and older adults benefit from two and a half hours a week of moderate aerobic physical activity, while children benefit from an hour or more of physical activity a day.
Talk and Walk with the Family
Walking together as a family also gives everyone time to share what is going on with their day. When walking, many modern technological devices are left behind (or should be left behind) and walkers can focus on the people with whom they are walking and talking.
In the SAMHSA's "Walk the Walk, Talk the Talk" article published online in May 2006, the authors points out that is much easier to talk with children when walking. "When you go for a walk, you leave distractions like the TV and Internet at home, and you may find that this makes it easier to talk with your child. It also may be easier for some kids to open up as they walk." They also advise when you are out walking with your children, to make sure you turn off the music devices and cell phones and give each other your full attention. Remind yourself that this is a special time that shouldn't be interrupted.
A technique recommended in "Raising a Grateful Child: How to Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude in Children" to get your children talking while walking is to have them answer the statement “Tell me 5 good things about your day.” It might take a bit of coaxing and a couple of tries, but soon your children may be talking about what is going in in their lives that you might not have known otherwise.
Another idea for getting children talking is to bring along something like the Kubit2me Now You're Talkin' version. This non-competitive game involves tossing around a cube filled with questions that players answer. The game was designed to encourage open and honest communication among the players, and if the players are the family -- the within the family.
Year 'Round Family Walking
Walking is an activity that can be enjoyed by the family year 'round.
- In the Spring take the family for a wildflower or nature to watch the budding trees. Remember to dress in layers in case it gets too cold or you get too warm.
- In the Summer be sure to watch for the heat and make sure to take enough water so as not to get dehydrated. Adjust your walking times to the early morning or the late evening. Take the family on an evening stroll with flashlights to look at the constellations.
- In the Fall let the family search out the areas where the leaves have fallen and go for a leaf crunching walk or have fun throwing fall leaves at each other. Remember to dress in layers in case it gets too cold or you get too warm.
- In the Winter put on some warm clothes and boots and go walking in the snow or carefully crunching ice in puddles. Be sure to bundle up and bring along some hot chocolate or hot tea to enjoy and keep everyone warm.
Establish a Family Walking Time
Make getting healthy and staying in touch with your family a priority. Set aside a family walking time, preferably for a half hour to an hour 3 or more days a week for family walking time.
If schedules are such that you can only get together as an entire family work with the time that is available. If one parent is available and the other is not, set up a time for one parent to go walking with the children.
Remember walking together as a family is an easy way for everyone to get some exercise while staying connected and bonding as a family.
Resources
Dyer KA. 2008. The Many Health Benefits of Walking: Start to Walk as a Way to Get Exercise and Get Healthier. Suite 101.
Dyer KA. 2009. Walking in October. SlideShare.
Dyer KA. 2008. Raising a Grateful Child: How to Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude in Children. Suite 101.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Benefits of Walking at Family Guide. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2006. Physical activity can make the connection. PDF File Brochure.
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