The physical and mental(!) benefits of working out with your kids.
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If you’re a parent, you know how hard it can be to provide your kids with all the healthy habits you want them to learn from their childhoods. But, there’s one thing you can easily do: teach them to love exercise. Most of the time, kids learn to love sports early in childhood, especially when they are encouraged by their parents and have pleasant memories of exercising. So, if you’re interested in providing various physical and mental benefits to your kids, here’s why you should introduce family workouts into your day.
It encourages good habits
Childhood obesity is a real problem that concerns all of us and luckily, many parents are working hard to provide their little ones with healthy habits. From packing healthy snacks for school to driving kids to practice, there are many things you can do to promote good habits. However, when the kids come home, family time is often sedentary. But, if you make Sunday football games, Saturday bike rides, and morning yoga practices into a family tradition, your kids will carry these habits with them into their adulthood.
It has amazing benefits on the brain
When kids work out, it affects their brain structure which encourages better academic performance. Kids with better physical fitness have a greater volume of gray matter in cortical and subcortical brain areas, so you’ll be doing your little scholars a big favor.
It boosts emotional wellbeing
Exercise is tightly connected to confidence and self-esteem. Kids usually react very positively when their lives get enriched with physical activity. Additionally, exercising lowers stress, anxiety, and depression and raises serotonin levels. In more serious mental illness cases, family exercise can be a great addition to therapy and counseling. And all you need for a fun and relaxing exercise is some comfy workout shoes which you can find online here, and someone to hit the local park or running trail with you. Essentially, exercise makes both kids and adults happier and more emotionally stable.
It’s a great way to bond
Family time usually involves watching TV or napping after a meal, and while these activities are important for relaxation, they don’t really make you bond. Usually, everyone is too preoccupied and lost in their own heads to really communicate. But, during exercise, you can easily talk with your family and cooperate to reach victory. No matter if you’re jogging or playing a sport, you can focus on your interaction.
Your kids will learn teamwork
Most life skills are taught at home and teamwork is definitely one of them. If you hit the gym or court as a family, you need to work together towards a common goal. This not only makes you bond stronger, but it also teaches the kids to value their team members, learn to set goals and celebrate group accomplishments.
You will have extra motivation
When you’re interested in exercise, your excitement will spread to your kids and you’ll be more likely to be involved in physical activity as a family. A game of touch football or a brisk walk in the park will be so much fun and so relaxing that you will not only feel motivated to do it more often but also to take family fitness more seriously.
It provides the entire family with amazing memories
Letting your kids beat you at badminton or throw you on the ground during a football match will definitely put a smile on your kids’ faces. Even something generally uneventful as jogging can be made much more interesting when you’re doing it as a family. Also, celebrating each other’s victories and achievements will provide kids with some pleasant memories of their childhood.
Today, you can find amazing parent-kid workout classes, but you can simply just get out and go for a run, jump on your bike or grab a ball and play catch. Before you know, you will rush home to work out with your kids and find them waiting for you with their sneakers in hand ready for a run! Just imagine all the benefits your kids (and you) will enjoy thanks to your fun family workouts.