It's already April, but that's not too late to make a 2011 resolution! Trade in your family's lazy habits for healthier ones by encouraging each member of your household to spend more time as a unit, rather than as individuals. Family members can feel neglected if everyone spends too much time doing their own thing--surfing the web, watching TV, playing video games, or other sedentary individual activities. Below are some ideas to implement with your family for a happier, healthier house!
-
Instead of going on the internet, read a book! Whether you start a family reading time where each person reads his or her own book while enjoying some sunshine in the yard, or you read a family favorite aloud with a delicious fruit smoothie in hand, reading books as a family can be fun and definitely sharpens your kids' reading skills.
-
When you see your kids playing video games, switch the TV off and encourage them to pick up a real soccer ball and kick it around in the yard. The physical activity will do a lot more for them than moving around a tiny joystick will!
-
Don't let the television be a remedy for boredom. Attempt to engage your kids (and the whole family!) in a board game or other fun activity like charades or sardines. You can even make up your own game!
Another way to encourage healthy habits in your family is to have a family-only night once a week. With all the after-school activities kids pick up over the years, it can be hard to fit in a time when your entire family can just hang out and not be distracted by friends, sports, TV, or even homework. Dedicating a certain night of the week to family bonding can be fun and facilitate close relationships between all members of your clan.
-
Produce a family skit. Nothing beats an in-home theater, especially when the actors are your children! If you're not blessed with a talent for acting, you can set up a stage for the local stuffed animal population--those guys are never ashamed to act in front of others!
-
Using couches, cushions, chairs, sheets, pool noodles, or whatever, create an obstacle course or fort. Clean-up can be horrendous, but it's worth it almost every time to see the looks of achievement on your kids' faces after they complete a marathon of dodging skyscrapers of couch cushions and hopping over piles of books.
-
If you've got any artistic bones in your body, work together to make a scrapbook of an event that everyone attended or your last family vacation. Assign each person to a stack of photos, then cut and glue away! Combine everyone's pages at the end to get a lovely keepsake to look at in the future.
Visit www.getbacktothetable.com or http://www.facebook.com/LibbysTable for more information on how to form healthy family habits! And don't forget to check out Libby's Jingle Contest. Recreate the iconic Libby's jingle for a chance to win $10,000!
