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I’m about to save you much pain and suffering.

I’m about to save your knees, ankles, quads, and back – maybe your teeth.

This tip may save you from missing out entirely on summer fun because you’ve been benched with an injury.

Because I’m about to tell you about the best spring footwear you can have.

Shoes that every woman, man and child should wear every time they set foot outside to play. Especially in the spring or after a good rain.

Years ago we invested in these and they’ve become a staple . . . and a lifesaver.

What are these fantastic shoes that should appear on your feet once the April showers arrive?

Football cleats. Or lacrosse cleats.

What?!

Oh yeah, I know they’re not fashionable. But here’s why you should keep reading as if your life depends on it.

Why Football Cleats Are Essential For Family Fitness And Beyond

In most regards I love spring.

But if there is one seasonal fixture that makes me hate spring – it’s the injuries. I hate the injuries that come with our sudden urge to get active after a long sedentary winter. Most of us have neglected to build the protective muscles we need to buffer us from the wear and tear of activity.

And yet, we get inspired by the return of warmth, the birds and the Rocky theme going in our head to go outside and start sprinting.

To make things worse, this danger is compounded by the slick slopes of defrosting earth, further soaked by those good ole April showers.

For this reason it’s critical you think smart and careful.

Building your leg muscles and back muscles is one part of the spring injury-prevention recipe.

And these ungainly shoes are another. They keep my footing sure and make sure I don’t do a spontaneous split while tossing the football around after school. 

And even better, with their high tops, they give my ankles a little extra support so I don’t end up ripping a ligament as my foot twists in a game of tag.

Beyond Family Fitness

Football cleats are not only for smart spring soccer players and playful primavera-inspired parents.

They are fantastic for mud-season chores.

When spring hits, our farm gets busy. We’re cleaning the yard, boiling maple sap, fixing up the barn, fencing and chicken coops. And getting the garden growing.

As a general rule, we try to make sure all shoes come off at the kitchen door to keep the dirt down. But it’s annoying as anything when you forget your seeds or want a gulp of water to have to take off your shoes, take care of your one-minute task, and then put them back on.

We’ve tried a lot of alternatives – shoe covers, clogs, shallow shoe baths and rough doormats.

All of these work to some extent – but the shoe covers get lost, the clogs are terrible for running if  a hawk swoops down on the chickens and the shoe baths just makes the muddiness a little less thick.

However, with the football cleats, you can stomp off and use the rough doormat and then walk inside leaving very little dirt. It’s not an absolute replacement for taking off your shoes at the door – that’s the best.

But it’s the best alternative we’ve found so far. And now that we’ve added this secure footwear to our yardwork, it makes wheelbarrow shoving and chicken herding that much easier on our bodies.

Go Get Your Smart Extra Safe Spring Footwear Now!

At Fit Family Together, we are always urging you to get out and move with your family. But do it smart, so you can keep moving throughout spring, into summer, fall and keep it up through winter.

These shoes help you take care of your older, less flexible and resilient body.

(Bonus hint: With football season on the wane, you might even find these on sale!)

Go outfit your whole family – but especially you older, tightly-ligamented parents!

About Sarah Clachar And Fit Family Together

Since expecting their first Since expecting their first child, Sarah and her husband Cassius have made fitness a core part of their family life. From biking to hiking . . . from the heart of New York City to a farm in New England, they have found a way to stay active together. And through all this exercising as a family they discovered that family fitness builds not only strong bodies – but stronger families.

A professional health writer with a BA in biology, gardener and foodie Sarah brings a wealth of expertise in nutrition and health. A personal trainer and inveterate tinkerer, Cassius brings innovation to making family fitness work.

Ready to make family fitness part of your family life? Take the Fit Family Together 7 Day Family Fitness Challenge and put your own family fitness plan together.

The post The Best Spring Footwear For Family Fitness And More appeared first on Family Fitness | Exercise For Kids | Kids Exercise | Parenting Tips | Family Fitness.

Welcome to Fit Family Together. To get family fitness tips, strategies and inspiration sent right to your inbox, just sign up right here. (You’ll get a great 7-day ecourse as well!)

Just as I started pulling out my seed catalogs to plan our garden nature let me know winter wasn’t done with me yet. 

We’ve gotten close 3-4 feet of snow in the past few weeks and it’s still coming down!  In our house, when February delivers snow – get a shovel and don your snowshoes!

Snowshoes: The Practical Necessities That Make Life Easier

Snowshoes transform a winter snowdump into an invitation to get out and explore. And as my husband points out, they can be a lifesaver. We won’t go on any long winter road trips without a few pairs in the back of the car in case we get stuck. As many mountain men can testify – they are a practical tool for any winter traveler. My husband was dumbfounded when he first put his 190 pounds on a pair of snowshoes and found himself almost floating as he walked on the snow, sinking in only a few inches below the surface.

Snowshoes are also an invaluable part of managing our homestead. Many winters when our woodpile has run low my husband and I snowshoe out back to find dead trees we can fell for firewood and carry them back in 4- 6 foot lengths. Without snowshoes, this would be impossible. Around this time of year, we also use them to put our maple taps into the trees, monitor the sap buckets and collect them when the snow is still too deep.

The Snowshoe Challenge

All this being said, snowshoe traveling can still be awkward. I’ll warn you – when you start you’ll probably land on your face a few times (good thing it’s done on soft snow!). You have to lift your legs up enough to get the toe part out with each step. And widen your stance so you don’t step on your other foot while walking.

But eventually, with practice, you can get a nice rhythm going. If you can bring it up to a jog, you’ll discover it’s a potent workout. (Warning number two: Wear snowpants since you’ll probably kick snow up on your butt as you move forward if you jog.)

You’ll feel it in your quadriceps primarily. But it can work out the muscles in your shins too – a great way to prepare for track season in the spring. By strengthening these muscles you can prevent shin splints.

Today, with the big snowfall, I trooped outside with my daughter to enjoy a little snowshoeing. We’ve been trekking out on snowshoes since she was about 4 (she’s now 16).  We jog/trekked past the garden and chicken coop along an old logging trail into the back field.We walked carefully among the trees, alert for falling branches. One tree made a long slow creeek that raised our hackles. But nothing but snow fell around us. The  trees, weighed down with snow, made a magical tunnel that opened up into the white expanse of the field.

The field gave us a nice gentle uphill slope – good for a slow jog and extra workout until we reached the other old logging trail that led through our back maple grove. Again, we tuned our ears to creaking trees and wended our way to the pond. A few branches had already fallen in the way, blocking the path, forcing us out onto the pond.

A quick crossing and then another jog up the slight hill to the house. With our hearts pounding in our chests from the exertion, we took a moment to practice our shooting with a air rifle and then went for another jog around the through the wood tunnel, the field, the maple grove and then finally over the pond and back to the house.

We toured our maple trees, brushing snow off the bucket covers to prevent the buckets from falling off. And then circled back to the house for a final snowball fight.

Trekking with Young Children Into A Magical Winter Woods

Years ago when she was tiny, snowshoes opened the world up to her when the snow would make exploring too tedious. Without snowshoes, she would sink too deep to make it possible to walk far. With them, they could trudge along chattering merrily.

We bundled her up in her snowsuit, strapped on her little snowshoes and trekked outside to see how the world had transformed with snow.

There is nothing like exploring winter woods with children. It’s like reading a story book. Animals leave tracks in the snow that turns the woods into a timelapse photograph of all the travelers who have passed through. You can spot itsy mice patters as they skim over the top. We discovered where squirrels hid their nuts, amazed that they seemed to dig with absolute accuracy to find their stash.

We tracked foxes, otters, weasels, coyotes and neighborhood cats. We even came across a few winter dramas as a we’d spot the intersection of squirrel and fox tracks. Spots of blood told the rest of the tale.

Sometimes, my husband and I would hang back and let our little explorers go forward on their own. Allowing them to experience that sense of being the intrepid leader, the first to discover a new vision of winter’s wonders. Sometimes we’d all pause and just listen to the wind in the pine trees.

We’ve snowshoed up our little mountain in the back, crossed streams and traversed fields. Pausing to enjoy the light of the sun setting behind the trees and then turning back, grateful for the warm, welcoming light of our house, its woodstove and the promise of hot chocolate or soup.

Invaluable Snowshoeing Tips

A few tips for making snowshoeing a fun adventure:

1. Get good snowshoes!

When our kids were little we first had some terrible bear claw shaped Redfeather plastic snowshoes. The straps were hard to secure no matter how tight we made them, especially since little kids snowboots are so stubby it’s hard to find a good area to tighten straps around. We’ve loved the Tubbs snowshoes and MSR makes a great looking set – although we haven’t tried them. Both of these look like they’ve been built to make them easier to move in and keep the straps on. If you’re going to make snowshoeing an enjoyable family experience, it’s worth investing in some good ones for the kids. February is great time to get good deals or keep your eyes open for equipment swaps and used equipment on sale.

The same goes for adults – invest in something that will stand up to some tough terrain and years of trekking – and that won’t come off your boots easily. We’ve loved our Redfeather Adult snowshoes – they’ve held up with our use for years. This includes carrying heavy logs or two 5-gallon sap buckets on uneven terrain. And I just broke in a set of Atlas snowshoes hiking up to the top of our mountain and racing back down in time for a midday meeting. They held up great.

2. Dress for winter warmth

I’ve put together a whole article on how to dress for warmth. But critical to keep in mind – with snowshoeing, especially when you jog, you can really work up a sweat. It’s critical for safety and enjoyment to wear layers and clothes that you can vent so you don’t overheat.

3. Wear good-fitting boots

Usually with winter boots you can get away with some roominess. But when you put on snowshoes, you’ll want to tighten them up. We’ve had a few kids leave not only a snowshoe, but a boot behind! And even just a little looseness can make it harder to move efficiently.

4. Fuel up and bring snacks and water

I’ve put together lots of ideas for healthy snacks. Make sure you hydrate well too. In winter it’s just as critical to get enough liquid in your body. And we’ve started off many a good snowshoe hikes fueled by my pancakes.

5. Bring a trail guide and tracking guide

If you’re exploring new trails, make sure you’ve planned your route carefully and brought good maps with you. You don’t want to get lost – particularly in winter.

And bring along a good tracking guide – following animal tracks in the snow is a great way to keep kids engaged. Many wildlife centers hand out free one page tracking guides that fit in your pocket. Or you can get this more in depth animal tracking guide from Peterson’s that goes beyond footprints to discuss all kinds of interesting things like scat (poop).

6. Start small and work up

You’ve heard this before from me – start small for success and build on it. Don’t get over ambitious – especially if kids are involved or you haven’t been too active. As I explained, snowshoeing can make movement easier in deep snow and it’s not too tricky. But it’s not easy as pie. Start with a short snowshoe exploration first that you can finish with a sense of satisfaction – looking forward to the next adventure. And then build on this with a slightly longer trip.

Have you ventured out on snowshoes? Please share your experience and any great tips as well!

About Sarah Clachar And Fit Family Together

Since expecting their first Since expecting their first child, Sarah and her husband Cassius have made fitness a core part of their family life. From biking to hiking . . . from the heart of New York City to a farm in New England, they have found a way to stay active together. And through all this exercising as a family they discovered that family fitness builds not only strong bodies – but stronger families.

A professional health writer with a BA in biology, gardener and foodie Sarah brings a wealth of expertise in nutrition and health. A personal trainer and inveterate tinkerer, Cassius brings innovation to making family fitness work.

Ready to make family fitness part of your family life? Take the Fit Family Together 7 Day Family Fitness Challenge and put your own family fitness plan together.

The post Snowshoe And Enjoy The Deep Snow! appeared first on Family Fitness | Exercise For Kids | Kids Exercise | Parenting Tips | Family Fitness.

Welcome to Fit Family Together. To get family fitness tips, strategies and inspiration sent right to your inbox, just sign up right here. (You’ll get a great 7-day ecourse as well!)

“Ready for the holidays?” the nurse asked me as she took my blood pressure at my physical a couple weeks ago.

I nodded. “I’m stressed,” she acknowledged.

Every year I watch with a profound feeling of relief as around me the holiday frenzy heats up.

Presents to buy . . . decorations . . . parties . . . more shopping and presents . . .

In our house we keep it simple.

No presents. Simple colorful lights around the livingroom. A straggly tree brought in from the cold.

A simple candlelit dinner.

When the kids were younger, we read out loud and snuggled near the fire.

Christmas morning itself is quiet. Still. Peaceful.

I still remember distinctly lying there with my 1-month old son thirteen years ago amazed at how quiet the world seemed. So little traffic outside our apartment house. So little movement. Like the world – in the old Solstice tradition – had paused only to reawaken and return to life.

For us the holidays have become not a time of frantic work, heading towards a climax. It’s not followed by a feeling of deflation when the frenzy wears off.

It is strictly about having time together as a family. And stepping back and enjoying that we are together, alive in a beautiful world that will turn back to warmth and springtime no matter how cold it feels outside.

Now, I’m not writing this to knock present exchanges and a busy social schedule if that’s a cherished part of your family traditions.

I’m only trying to offer a sense that there is an alternative if you decide you want to change things. In fact there are lots of alternatives down the spectrum between too much and utter simplicity.

Most importantly, no matter what you do leading up to Christmas, I urge you to make sure the core of the holidays doesn’t get lost.

So today, I’m offering you 5 ways to spend more time together as a family. (And in the Fit Family Together tradition – they’re active!)

Since many of these ideas are outside activities, you should include these three tips in your planning:

• Make sure you dress warmly. Check out 7 Warm Winter Clothes Tips For Kids And Parents
• And to make the time outside even merrier, pack some yummy healthy snacks. We often bring a hot thermos of ramen noodles or hot chocolate along with muffins, nuts, cheese, dried fruit and lots of water (you still need hydration in winter). You can find out more tips in the article How To Stay Warm In Winter.
• Plan carefully. This is a safety issue as well as an enjoyment issue. Winter weather can make simple mistakes get big and dangerous very quickly. Not to mention, by preparing a bit you can assure more fun and less complaints.

Holiday Family Idea#1: Spending Time Together Exploring

Whether it’s on foot, snowshoe or ski, the winter is a magical time to get outdoors.

There is absolutely nothing like the sound of winter winds softly whispering in the pines when the other leaves are gone.

Nothing like nestling into a soft snowbank and looking up at the winter sky.

It’s also eye-opening to visit a place you’re used to seeing in the summer changed by winter. One winter morning, we rose up early and had breakfast on the beach. Instead of the crowds we only met up with seagulls.

The kids dressed in their warm parkas and snowpants raced across the beach chasing them with loud cries, pausing occasionally to watch the waves breaking on the shoreline.

Make sure you bring a good trailmap – no need to get off the beaten path.

Finally, bring an animal track identification book. The snow reveals all kinds of mysterious activity you never knew was going on right in your neighborhood. We’ve tracked all kinds of critters and come up with all kinds of creative stories about what those critters were up to.

And even if you live in the city, you can do detective work. The marks left by an urban squirrel racing through Brooklyn’s Prospect Park brought delight and questions to my daughter when she was little.

If you’re just trying something out for the first time, rent equipment. Many cross- country ski places rent children’s skis by the season for very low rates. You can also find outdoor education centers with snowshoe rentals. The Appalachian Mountain Club lodges offer great family rates, programs and free equipment to all guests.

Holiday Family Idea #2: Spending Time Together Zooming

You would never think my husband grew up in the Caribbean by his love of winter sports. To see him swooping fearlessly around the ice, you’d think he grew up in Siberia instead. The fact is, he got a couple old Russian guys in Brooklyn to teach him when he was a teenager.

But what really got him going with winter sports was his desire to feel what it’s like to fly over ice . . . and take on gravity with a snowboard or skis . . .

Or simply dare the laws of physics with a simple plastic sled.

For years we’d hike up a local mountain where we pick blueberries in the summer, toting our little plastic sleds. With only chickadees as our witnesses . . . and a couple wooden sticks to help with steering . . . we cruised down some magnificent long slopes.

At the end of every run, their face encrusted with ice, our kids shouted out for more.

Now I’m not advocating going beyond your comfort zone with speed.  But consider trying out ice skating, skiing, snowboarding or take a few sled runs.

The soft cushion of snow and warm clothes makes it a little easier to try these kinds of sports. And as you get better, there’s nothing like the thrill and grace of the movement in these activities.

A couple additional tips beyond exercising some good judgement in the interest of safety . . .

• Don’t worry too much about looking awkward if you’re just starting out. It’s another way to let your children learn from watching you: Learning is a process and everyone’s got to start off somewhere. (You should have seen my husband on skis for the first time!)
• If you go sledding with little ones, make sure you don’t pull them up the hill all the time. Let them clamber up and even pull the sled up to the top.
• Practice stopping (and bailing out of the sled, if you’re sledding) before you need to . . . No explanation needed.

Holiday Family Idea #3: Spending Time Together Playing

If you’ve got the white stuff outside, make a snow fort and have a snowball fight – or two or three. (Once you start, no one’s safe outside!)

Roll some gargantuan snowballs and make snow people and even snow pets. Decorate the yard with snow creations.

If you’ve only got rain, like we did, stomp on puddles and float sticks down the drainage ditches.

And if you’ve had enough of the outdoors, you can still enjoy some indoor activities for kids.

Holiday Family Idea #4: Spending Time Together Cleaning

Now this may not seem so glamorous. But there’s a misconception out there that we have to constantly entertain our children.

And who says cleaning and chores can’t be enjoyable.

Put on some music and give your house a thorough scrub down.

In winter we shut ourselves in. Indoor air quality – which is already bad – gets worse. You can drastically reduce the threat of flus and colds while getting active together as a family.

However, don’t add to the air quality problem. We clean and disinfect with white distilled vinegar mixed with tea tree oil and fir needle oil. For serious disinfection we use hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol. Both are cheap and very effective and safe.

For scrubbing, Bon Ami, Borax, or Barkeeper’s Friend works well.

Scrub, sweep, mop, vaccuum, straighten, reorganize, phew!

You’ll get a great workout together, have the chance to teach your children the invaluable skill of cleaning the bathroom properly, and end up with a healthier place to spend time together.

Holiday Family Idea #5: Spending Time Together Reflecting And Planning

The more you spend time together, the more you have a chance for conversations on deeper topics to come up. Life lessons . . . lessons from the past year . . . and aspirations for the one coming up . . . can come to the fore when you least expect them.

Make sure as you spend time together you keep your ears peeled. Listen to what’s on your children’s minds.

But don’t get caught up in the overemphasis of parents just listening and not teaching. We’ve got a job as parents to lead, structure and help shape our children’s perspectives.

Take some moments to think about what you want your children to think about. Consider how you’ll talk to them about it. And if the opportunity doesn’t come up naturally, create a moment on your own.

While you may have your own plans and ideas buzzing around your head with regards to your business and work coming up in January, make sure you take this concentrated time together as a time to focus on your work as a parent.

The beauty of this holiday time is that it allows you the expanse of time together to tackle tough topics and still have time to digest and connect as you work through them.

Enjoy The Most Powerful Gift Of The Holidays By Spending Time Together

Do you have some favorite holiday family activities to share? Please share them on Facebook or add them to the comments below.

About Sarah Clachar And Fit Family Together

Since expecting their first Since expecting their first child, Sarah and her husband Cassius have made fitness a core part of their family life. From biking to hiking . . . from the heart of New York City to a farm in New England, they have found a way to stay active together. And through all this exercising as a family they discovered that family fitness builds not only strong bodies – but stronger families.

A professional health writer with a BA in biology, gardener and foodie Sarah brings a wealth of expertise in nutrition and health. A personal trainer and inveterate tinkerer, Cassius brings innovation to making family fitness work.

Ready to make family fitness part of your family life? Take the Fit Family Together 7 Day Family Fitness Challenge and put your own family fitness plan together.

The post Holidays & Family: Spending Time Together appeared first on Family Fitness | Exercise For Kids | Kids Exercise | Parenting Tips | Family Fitness.

Welcome to Fit Family Together. To get family fitness tips, strategies and inspiration sent right to your inbox, just sign up right here. (You’ll get a great 7-day ecourse as well!)

“At least everyone in our family is healthy. That’s what counts”

You could tell she was struggling to hold back the tears when she said this. Tears that hovered there all the time, she confessed.

We had paused a few minutes in our demolition of room after room in her house on Staten Island. Purple walls, floor tiles – everything except the framing was pulled apart as we worked to expose the wood so it could dry out before the hard work of re-insulating and reinstalling drywall could begin.

A few things were salvaged – a poster made for her daughter’s sweet 16 that was above the water mark . . . a smooth rock someone had collected .  .  . a couple of purses that had been out of reach on some hooks on the door.

But everything else – carpets, furniture, clothing, medicine from the medicine cabinet, appliances – everything else had been moved out onto the street. Waiting for dump trucks to cart them away.

As you looked up and down the block – the same kind of mountainous piles stretched in front of house after house after house.

J had come upstairs to see how things were going and showed us the attic hatch where her daughter had slept the night of Hurricane Sandy as the water flooded not only the first floor but covered the second floor by several feet.

Now she and the 7 other people who lived in this house – 3 generations – had no home and were trying to make do. Hurricane Sandy stormed in adding insult to injury as they battled with joblessness as well.

Over Thanksgiving, my family traveled down to help with the cleanup, offering my husband’s carpentry skills and our hard work. We wanted to help some other families get back into their homes as soon as possible after Hurricane Sandy.

Here are a few of my thoughts from the experience:

Seeing Nature’s Disastrous Potential Is Humbling

For my family and I, we were humbled by what we saw:

• Houses moved halfway down the block. One had a sign – “This is not 1022 Colony Ave – It’s 1014 Colony Ave” and gave the owner’s number.
• We stood in the street and tried to fathom that a few weeks ago the water was 10 feet deep there. 3-4 feet above our heads.
• Scores of cars that can never be used again lining the streets – one perched precariously on a wall between two homes. A delivery van tipped on its side and deposited in the middle of a garden.

Blocks and blocks and blocks of devastation.

Certainly, our family has a little bit of the doomsday prepper mentality – we put a lot into developing our self-sufficiency and it allows us to breathe easier. But even so, it’s a reality check to see how little our modern-day conveniences can do against this kind of natural force. We saw how vulnerable we truly are. It underscores the importance of planning and thinking as a family about all the What If’s out there . . .

How Much Can Be Done When A Bunch Of Strong-Willed People With Strong Values Take Action

Equally humbling – however – was the energy we saw over the few days we were there – People bravely tearing up their houses so they could rebuild.

And a powerful force of volunteers.

For most of the time, we worked with a group of several hundred people from a chain of New Jersey churches. Most of the people who came in to help had never wielded a crowbar before in their life or ripped out drywall. But you wouldn’t know it – because by the end of each day another house had been stripped down and made ready for reconstruction.

As my husband noted – he’d been working with construction crews for years – and rarely had he seen this kind of efficiency – this level of work done.

When You Share A Purpose, Work Goes Smoothly And Walls Dissolve 

Equally as rare was the consideration shown to each other – no one got hurt.

You would think if you handed a group of strangers a bunch of tools and gave them this huge, difficult job, it wouldn’t take long for swearing and bickering to break out.

There was none of that – in fact just the opposite. The little kids were out front banging nails down on boards as a safety precaution. People were moving swiftly carrying garbage bags and plywood out. Toilets hauled out . . . Crowbars prying and sledge hammers swinging . . . But to the very end of each day, the cheerfulness and serious work attitude persisted.

Many of these volunteers had themselves lost power for 10 days thanks to Sandy. The church that we slept in housed volunteers from Indiana, Alaska, Wisconsin and Maryland. People came from all over because, like us, they just couldn’t turn away from neighbors who had been hit by this level of catastrophe.

Everything Changes After A Good Day Of Good Hard Work

On Thursday after our first house was done, we gathered with other volunteer teams in the semi-darkness near the now calm ocean to share lukewarm turkey and mashed potatoes. Kids falling asleep on laps, stories swapped and people who were strangers just hours before felt a rare companionship.

And boy, did that food taste good!

People Make The Difference 

We quickly realized after talking to people there, FEMA may give you a check – but that check wouldn’t go far enough.

It took people giving a little extra to help move things towards reconstruction. It took not only the hard work of everyone who showed up. But also the energy we brought. To be surrounded by this devastation can truly sap your spirit. I cannot imagine what it takes for homeowners here to get up each day and get back to cleaning out their homes.

The hugs, smiles, thank-you’s and relief we saw said it all. It helps to know you’re not alone in taking this on. And only people coming to help because their heart says it’s the right thing to do can really communicate this.

Volunteering Helps You And Your Children Put Things In Perspective

Our kids don’t get a lot of stuff – you can read about our approach to gift-giving here. We keep things simple. But they still love their comfortable beds, the spot on the couch where they sit and watch TV, a favorite sweater, the toaster that makes getting a snack a cinch, the photo albums that they spend hours leafing through and chuckling. Glimpsing what it’s like to lose everything helps them realize how much we have.

You Can Put Up With Much More Than You Think

Frankly, I was concerned about how well my kids would manage sleeping in a crowded church on cots and then putting in a full day of hard work for a couple days. But they managed well – working straight through with energy and strength that earned them lots of compliments.

A. started off one morning with a stomachache. When I checked in with her a few hours later, she brushed some sheetrock-dusted hair out of her face, smiled and said she was fine.

Family Fitness Makes Volunteering Go Farther

I was constantly aware of how much our conditioning and experience doing hard work together allowed us to work hard to the very end of each “house cleaning”. One house we worked on had plywood sheathing under the sheetrock. It was a behemoth to rip up. Cassius used a crowbar and brute strength to finish a couple rooms and O. carted out ripped up plywood after most people had finished up. Every hand was appreciated in this effort . . . But it certainly helps when you can put extra oomph into your work.

As a family, having experience coaching our children through challenging physical work made it easier for us to give quick directives and get a response when doing this project. Essential for getting things done with minimal problems or injuries.

Fitness Is An Essential Component For Preparedness

When people talk about preparing for natural disasters or terrorist attacks, usually they discuss having a plan, equipment, and maybe some skills.

Rarely do I hear people discussing the importance of fitness for preparing for disaster. As I stood there imagining the night of the hurricane and getting a sense of what it meant to cope with the aftermath, I was keenly aware of how important being healthy is for dealing with this kind of stress. Physically it gives you the strength and endurance to do what’s needed. But as I’ve noted before, it can give you emotional and mental strength as well.

And like most disasters, the hardships don’t end very soon. We were able to return to our comfortable house after a couple days on cots. The families in Staten Island still have a long haul before they can come home.

If you want to help, Habitat For Humanity is planning a rebuilding effort that they tentatively say may happen in late December.

About Sarah Clachar And Fit Family Together

Since expecting their first Since expecting their first child, Sarah and her husband Cassius have made fitness a core part of their family life. From biking to hiking . . . from the heart of New York City to a farm in New England, they have found a way to stay active together. And through all this exercising as a family they discovered that family fitness builds not only strong bodies – but stronger families.

A professional health writer with a BA in biology, gardener and foodie Sarah brings a wealth of expertise in nutrition and health. A personal trainer and inveterate tinkerer, Cassius brings innovation to making family fitness work.

Ready to make family fitness part of your family life? Take the Fit Family Together 7 Day Family Fitness Challenge and put your own family fitness plan together.

The post Family Fitness Lessons From Hurricane Sandy Cleanup appeared first on Family Fitness | Exercise For Kids | Kids Exercise | Parenting Tips | Family Fitness.

Welcome to Fit Family Together. To get family fitness tips, strategies and inspiration sent right to your inbox, just sign up right here. (You’ll get a great 7-day ecourse as well!)

We don’t exchange gifts for Christmas. Instead, we enjoy a special candlelit dinner, decorate a (very wonky!) tree we tracked down in our woods with home made ornaments and feed the birds.

While our kids have had this experience since the beginning and thus are used to it, we still have to contend with the larger culture around us. Fortunately, both of their birthdays occur in the winter months. So this kind of helps cover for the absence of big gift-getting. Nonetheless we still don’t give lots for their birthdays – perhaps one or two gifts.

Over the last few years, however, we’ve been shifting to larger family fitness gifts for their birthdays combined. And we ask grandparents eager to give a gift to contribute to these.

The last two years we got a few month’s membership to a local gym so we can swim during the winter and play basketball. Before that we got passes to a rock-climbing gym.

Last week I urged you to focus your family resources strategically with what looks like tough-times ahead.

Earlier this week, I explained some of the problems video games pose to your children’s brain development.

So now I’m urging you – if you are spending your money on gifts – to give yourself and your children a family gift of fitness.

I’ve put together a great list of our favorite fitness tools – covering a range of prices. It’s not the prettiest layout but it gives you the scoop on them with related posts for more background info on how to put them to use.

I can’t promise you special Black Friday prices – they’re all available through Amazon so if you purchase them then, there may be a special. And perhaps on Cyber Monday as well.

Nonetheless, by investing in these items you’ll be getting the deal of a lifetime. There’s nothing that pays back more than an investment in your family’s health.

Go Check Out Our Recommended Family Fitness Equipment (Our Favorites!)

Got a great family fitness tool you love? Tell us about it in the comments below!

This post is part of the Life As Mom Frugal Friday exchange.

The post Fit Black Friday Into Your Family Fitness Plan appeared first on Family Fitness | Exercise For Kids | Kids Exercise | Parenting Tips | Family Fitness.

Welcome to Fit Family Together. To get family fitness tips, strategies and inspiration sent right to your inbox, just sign up right here. (You’ll get a great 7-day ecourse as well!)

My son’s teacher called us Friday morning with news we weren’t happy to hear.

Our son has been regularly late to class . . . papers disorganized . . .

And then just the day before our son O was playing with a rubber band and hit another child in the eye by accident.

No maliciousness, mind you. But carelessness. (Fortunately, the other child is okay.)

After I got off the phone and filled my husband in with the news it didn’t take us too long to conclude the same thing . . .

He had just started playing the video games again.

It’s been an ongoing issue with my son. A few years back we allowed him to download a few online games and play them. He repeatedly had a hard time getting off the game when we set a time limit. And then we started noticing a correlation with behavior problems.

So we kept him off the computer for weeks at a time, using the video game playing as a rare privilege and reward for good behavior. This seemed okay despite the fact that we had to really watch him like a hawk to make sure he got off on time. We didn’t really connect his overall distracted behavior and frequent bouts of irresponsible behavior with the video games.

However, the impact of video games on his overall behavior became crystal clear to us this summer when we allowed him to purchase an Ipod with his own money.

Within a few days, we made him return it.

After being on his Ipod for a half hour or more, he couldn’t focus on chores. He was late, distracted, disrespectful. His behavior was noticeably different. Then we found him sneaking it around, into his bedroom or the bathroom and playing with it even when he didn’t have permission to.

As soon as he returned the little electronic device his behavior changed. He was much more focused and respectful. His chores – while not always done right (which is normal for any 12 year old boy) –  were much more consistently done and done well.

Instead of fiddling with this device, he spent his time climbing trees, watching the chickens, and wandering in the woods playing his imaginary games. One day I surreptitiously watched him carefully act out a dramatic rendition of King Harold’s final fight and action-packed death from the Battle of Hastings that he had just read about. He built a crossbow and made a scuba device from some rocks, two gallon milk jugs and some old garden hose.

Based on what we witnessed this summer, video games were going back to being a rare treat.

But of course, those kinds of resolutions lose their mettle over the passage of time mixed in with a few redeeming sessions of good behavior.

During the week leading up to the phone call from his teacher, he had been allowed to play on the computer 3 different times for an hour each time.

So it didn’t surprise us too much when we heard from her. We looked at each other ruefully and firmly declared:

“No more video games.”

The Most Important Evidence Against Video Games For Your Children

I write this because I know you’re probably gearing up for the holidays and planning special gifts. And I’m sure many of you are planning an electronic gift or two for your kids.

I’m urging you to reconsider.

Before I get into some of the science behind what we witnessed at home, I ask you this:

Look carefully: What are you seeing in you, in your children and in the larger culture with our increasing use of electronic devices for entertainment?

The reason I’m starting with this question is because while science has racked up some compelling evidence, this is also a challenge to you as a parent to use your own observation skills and draw your own conclusions based on what you see.  Essentially . . . Look. Think.

We’ve got a lot of common sense and good instincts inside of us . . . and it may get buried sometimes with all the busy-ness of our lives . . . but it’s there. Use it.

I suspect you’ll discover that when you read about some of the research I’m about to share, you’ll think to yourself, “That makes sense. I noticed that. I felt that. I saw that. I can see this happening in me and my own children.”

Got it? So first, think for yourself and mull over what you’ve observed and wondered about.

Okay, now the officially researched evidence . . .

Video Games Can Be Addictive

First of all, video games can be addictive. Literally. Like a drug.

Researchers at Chung Ang University College of Medicine In Seoul, Korea recruited 21 healthy university students to look at this. They found that the brain activity among students who craved playing a video game was distinctively different from students who were not hooked on games. And most startling, the brain activity in the subjects craving games was similar to the brain activity of people who were addicted to drugs.

When these same researchers experimented by administering the drug Bupropion, the craving for internet video game playing decreased significantly. Bupropion is usually used as an antidepressant but it also is used to treat smoking and methamphetamine addiction.

So before we get any farther in discussing the pro’s and con’s of video game playing, it’s important to recognize that these toys we let our kids play with may be as dangerously addictive as cigarettes and even meth.

But are they mind-altering like some addictive drugs?

Perhaps not as dramatically. But the short answer is “yes”.

Video Games Make It Harder To Plan And Exercise Judgment

Some research has shown that video game playing can help increase brain activity in helpful ways. For example, one study showed that video game players were better at hand-eye coordination, making them better prepared to perform remote surgeries and other activities that require this kind of dexterity.

Okay, perhaps that’s good. But do you want your surgeon to be someone who cannot plan, think ahead, monitor their behavior or exercise self-restraint?

Because this is the other part of the video-game-playing package . . .

Research has shown that video game playing reduces activity and blood flow to the frontal lobe of the brain. And this has tremendous consequences.

Your brain is kind of like a muscle. If you don’t use it, you lose it.

When you don’t use parts of your brain, your body reduces blood flow to these areas. Neurons aren’t nourished and new neurons aren’t added on. The connections become weaker. Eventually this part of the brain shrinks due to lack of use.

The frontal lobe is the part of your brain you use to exercise emotional restraint and manage your behavior. This is why some research has shown clear connections between increased aggression and violent video game playing. In fact one study showed that there may even be a correlation between the highest number of kills in the video game and the most severely impulsive behavior.

But while violence maybe a concern, the problem is much bigger. The frontal lobe governs your ability to problem solve and plan ahead.

While violent games may be feeding violent fantasies, research shows that even using non-violent games like puzzles has the same effect when it comes to frontal lobe development. Essentially, the part of your brain that works to help you think ahead and work out tough problems won’t be as strong after video game playing.

One study looking at this compared the brain activity of hundreds of teenagers. Some of the participants read aloud and did math problems while another group played video games.

The video games only stimulated parts of the brain associated with vision and movement. The math problems, in contrast, used both the left and right hemispheres of the frontal lobe – the parts associated with learning, emotional control and memory.

Now interestingly enough, this study was designed to demonstrate the positive learning benefits of video games. The research team was hoping to use the study to gain more research dollars from educational video game producers.

Needless to say, the head researcher, Ryuta Kwashima from Tohoku University in Japan, was shocked by the results and felt compelled to share what they discovered at educational conferences. He urges parents to get their children outside to play instead of playing video games. He urges parents and educators to pay attention to what he sees as a very dangerous trend.

When you consider the fact that your frontal lobe’s main phase of development occurs while we’re young – under the age of 20, you can see how critical this is that our children spend as little time playing video games as possible.

And while video games specifically are demonstrably damaging, other electronic activities also seem to be causing harm.

• Research conducted at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, tracking empathy among college students over 30 years using the Davis Interpersonal Reactivity Index found that empathy has declined 48% since 1979. And they noted that the most notable declines occured after 2000 after social networks like Facebook and Myspace began to flourish.
• Research out of Columbia University indicates that we may be losing our memory skills as a culture thanks to Google. Because it’s so easy to access trivia, we have stopped working as hard to retain information. It’s a natural tendency to not focus on retaining info we can easily access. But the researchers raise the question as to whether we’re losing this ability to an unhealthy level.

If you’re starting to get a little worried, good. This is a big problem we’re facing.

But don’t lose hope since there are ways to nurture a video game-damaged brain back to better health . . .

Exercise Does Just The Opposite Of Video Games

Now you’ve probably heard a lot about the link between video game playing and the rising rates of obesity among children. And certainly there’s a connection between kids sitting around more, only exercising their fingers, and gaining weight.

And just to be clear, plenty of research shows that those so-called “healthy” games, like the Wii don’t make a difference when it comes to weight. Anyone who has played soccer knows soccer on that game is like comparing tiddlywinks to basketball.

But the lack of exercise in favor of gaming isn’t just linked to bigger bellies.

Exercise’s benefits also goes right to the brain.

I’ve written about this elsewhere in describing how exercise helps children think. Essentially, research shows that exercise increases activity and growth in the frontal lobe of the brain. Researchers in Georgia have shown that regular exercise for overweight children helps improve behavior, math skills and reading ability in the short span of a month. No extra tutoring needed.

Give Your Children A Future By Not Giving Them This Gift

So I’m using strong language here: Give your children a viable future. Don’t give them another electronic device this holiday.

I’m very concerned about the future – we’re raising a generation that physiologically is losing their ability to reason and manage their behavior. Their brains are literally being rewired in a way that diminishes their ability to problem solve and exercise good judgment.

I won’t place all the blame on video games. We’re a culture that downplays discipline, responsibility and activity. Our emotional intelligence and physical health is declining rapidly thanks to a whole host of factors.

And even with my son’s recent transgression, we’ll still let him play video games on occasion – but very rarely!

Last week I urged you to focus your resources on nourishing your family and your health so you can get through the potentially tough times ahead.

Again, I’m urging you to do this – but specifically with regards to electronic gaming.

In the recommended resources section, I list a bunch of family fitness gift ideas you can consider – true investments in your family’s health and well being. All of them resources we’ve used and loved.

But today, I want to just leave you to mull over this.

Give your children a tremendous gift – a healthy brain capable of creativity, learning, planning and developing mature behavior that can help them through life’s challenges. Don’t give them an electronic gadget or video game.

What are your observations or thoughts on this? Please come over to Facebook and share.

Sources:

Anonymous. Empathy: College students don’t have as much as they used to. University of Michigan news service. May 27, 2010.

Anonymous. Video gaming prepares brain for bigger tasks. Psychology and Sociology. September 24, 2010.

Bailey K et al. A negative association between video game experience and proactive cognitive control. Psychophysiology 2010 Jan 1:47(1):34-42.

Han DH et al. Bupropion sustained release treatment decreases craving for video games and cue-induced brain activity in patients with internet video game addiction. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2010 Aug: 18(4): 297-304

Han DH et al. Changes in cue-induced, prefrontal cortex activity with video-game play. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2010 Dec: 13(6): 655-61.

Matsuda G et al. Sustained decrease in oxygenated hemoglobin during video games in he dorsal prefrontal cortex: a NIRS study of children. Neuroimage. 2006 Feb 1:29(3): 706-11.

McVeigh T. Computer games stunt teen brains. The Observer, 18 August 2001

Sparrow B et al. Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips. Science 5 August 2011 333:6043:776-778

About Sarah Clachar And Fit Family Together

Since expecting their first child, Sarah and her husband Cassius have made fitness a core part of their family life. From biking to hiking . . . from the heart of New York City to a farm in New England, they have found a way to stay active together. And through all this exercising as a family they discovered that family fitness builds not only strong bodies – but stronger families.

A professional health writer with a BA in biology, gardener and foodie Sarah brings a wealth of expertise in nutrition and health. A personal trainer and inveterate tinkerer, Cassius brings innovation to making family fitness work.

Ready to make family fitness part of your family life? Take the Fit Family Together 7 Day Family Fitness Challenge and put your own family fitness plan together.

The post The Effect Of Video Games On Children: Something To Think About appeared first on Family Fitness | Exercise For Kids | Kids Exercise | Parenting Tips | Family Fitness.

Welcome to Fit Family Together. To get family fitness tips, strategies and inspiration sent right to your inbox, just sign up right here. (You’ll get a great 7-day ecourse as well!)

My son’s soccer team lost the championship game. It was hard fought – a close match.
As the team picked up its spirits and gathered coats and schoolbags, one of the moms circulated with a platter of frosting-topped cupcakes.

“No thank you,” my son politely declined. She offered them to my daughter and husband as well. Only to get the same response.

She paused and looked over at my husband, a question poised on her lips. Suffice it to say we have a reputation in our various school circles. And this mom was eager to find out what trick we’d pulled to add cupcake forbearance to our list of healthy family traits.

So my husband explained . . .

Years ago at our children’s insistence we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts. These two little guys were eager to feed their sweet teeth.

Of course, after taking their time to carefully survey the offerings, they chose the gooiest, stickiest donuts on display:

An icing covered monstrosity with strawberry cream oozing out from the sides.

Barely able to contain their drool, our two miscreants settled into the back of the car with baited breath.

We handed them each a donut and off they went.

Before long the backseat was a grisly mess of pink cream in the hair and sticky fingers. But that wasn’t the worst part.

The worst part was the expressions on my two little one’s faces . . .

They looked miserable.

“Mom,” the plaintive call went out. “I feel horrible.”
“Mom, I feel sick.”

These two guys were so unaccustomed to so much sweetness that their bodies rebelled. Within a few bites, the donuts brought not delight – but dismay.

It took years before we could even mention the word “donut” without eliciting groans.

After that one overwhelming afternoon of sugary richness, my kids now instinctively turn down sweet cakes.

Now, don’t get me wrong. They’re not completely sugar-free. Apple pie moves fast in our household. Pancakes with maple syrup are slurped up and they love to chew on a wad of bubble gum on occasion.

But they don’t like too much too often. Instinctively, they don’t want too much sweet.

With Halloween approaching and most of you quivering as you anticipate endless negotiations about candy and wired kids, here’s some insights to help you based on our experience:

1. Kids can learn to instinctively NOT crave sweets.

2. Make sweet indulgences an occasional thing and their taste buds will react dramatically to anything sweet. One recent study found that obese kids tended to describe foods as less sweet than their slimmer counterparts. You don’t need to invest a million dollars in research to figure out why: When you eat a lot of sugary things you change the way the nerves in your taste buds react to sweetness. It takes a lot more stimulus to trigger a reaction.

When you eat less sugary stuff, it doesn’t take as much to set your taste buds off.

3. When you eat something sweet, take some time to notice how you feel afterwards. My children were so used to feeling good after eating that they really noticed how bad they felt after indulging. Often enough we get used to the low energy, the sour mouth, the achy head that comes with eating too much sugar. If you coach your children to pay attention to how they feel, they may be less interested in eating something that makes them feel so bad.

4. Finally, be a model. And talk about how you feel as you eat sweet stuff. In our household, we talk a lot about changes we’ve made, how we feel when we eat healthy or exercise and the science behind all of this. And despite what you may think, this sinks in. Especially when you’re walking the talk too. In fact doing it together as a team can make it an even more positive experience.

If your kids are already off the sweet stuff, you’re on the right track. Keep it up.

But if you’re trying to make a shift from earlier eating patterns, it can take a little more strategizing. In my earlier article on kicking the soda habit, I describe how to ease off an addiction to sweet. My husband is proof that you can shift your taste buds entirely.

Giving your children a healthy sense of taste is a wonderful gift. It makes eating well no longer an act of will but instinctive behavior. Their cravings can turn from unhealthy to healthy.

Not to mention, it makes it easier on you as a parents. Instead of having to say “no” when someone offers your child cupcakes, they’ll say on their own, “No cupcakes, thank you”.

About Sarah Clachar And Fit Family Together

Since expecting their first child, Sarah and her husband Cassius have made fitness a core part of their family life. From biking to hiking . . . from the heart of New York City to a farm in New England, they have found a way to stay active together. And through all this exercising as a family they discovered that family fitness builds not only strong bodies – but stronger families.

A professional health writer with a BA in biology, gardener and foodie Sarah brings a wealth of expertise in nutrition and health. A personal trainer and inveterate tinkerer, Cassius brings innovation to making family fitness work.

Ready to make family fitness part of your family life? Take the Fit Family Together 7 Day Family Fitness Challenge and put your own family fitness plan together.

The post No Cupcakes, Please: How To Help Curb Sugar Cravings appeared first on Family Fitness | Exercise For Kids | Kids Exercise | Parenting Tips | Family Fitness.

Welcome to Fit Family Together. To get family fitness tips, strategies and inspiration sent right to your inbox, just sign up right here. (You’ll get a great 7-day ecourse as well!)

She was very serious about her job.

My daughter Ariel and her dad were busy carrying a 6 foot branch down the trail. Now granted – she was about 1/2 the length of the branch . . . And granted the branch was twisted and rotted – not good for much building . . .

But that didn’t matter. She had a job to do. She’d hired her dad to help with a serious smile and look of determination as compensation. And that was that.

As we wended our way down the trail circling boulders and trees, she focused on her job. Aside from a few deliberate breaks, the branch would not fall and she would not fail.

An hour later this six-year-old branch mover had accomplished a major feat. As she and her dad set the branch carefully down by the trailside, she handed her dad the final payment. A proud triumphant grin that said, “We did it!”

In the course of this hike (and many others) I learned an important lesson: Hiking with children does not follow the normal rules of hiking. Goals are not so clear and the process is not necessarily about simply walking forward.

Hiking with children is a different activity altogether.

The good thing is, if you embrace this change to how you hike, you also get rid of one of the major obstacles to hiking with children: Whining.

We’ve certainly had days with a child on each of our backs as we crested the trail. But all in all, once our children were old enough to come out of the baby backpack carrier, we’ve tried to err on the side of our kids using their own two feet. Sometimes we simply let them know that no if’s and’s or but’s, they’re walking.

But we also shifted our perspective to change hiking to something that kept them entranced and motivated.

Make sure you cover the basics – stay hydrated, have good footwear, good snacks and clothes to keep you warm or cool depending on the season. Make sure you have a good map and a first aid kit. Plan for safety and relative comfort.

Once you have these covered, you’ve taken care of the bulk of the challenges facing you in enjoying a hike with your kids

Now comes the good stuff – the stuff that changes a hike from being a chore . . . to being an adventure or magical mystery tour.

So here you go – 9 ways to hike with children and turn it into something fun.

How To Hike With Children Tactic #1: Sing

This tactic is as old as the hills. Thanks to the Seven Dwarves, we got the great hiking diddy, “Hi ho, Hi ho!”. We spent several years hiking to “I love ap- ap- ap- apples and bananas”. You can do call and response songs like the old camp favorite, “The other day . . . the other day . . . I met a bear . . . I met a bear . . .” And long repeat songs like the Rattlin’ Bog work great for making the trail disappear. Even make up a song.

How To Hike With Children Tactic #2: Tell A Story

Once upon a time, my son Orion threw a twig off a cliff at the top of a mountain we had hiked up. For the entire trip down he told me what he imagined happened after he threw that stick. First it hit a bird flying and knocked it down to the ground and then a passing fox picked up the bird and brought it to her fox cubs . . . and then one of the fox cubs went exploring . . . and then . . . the story went on . . . and on . . . and on. Both he and I were surprised when we reached the bottom.

How To Hike With Children Tactic #3: Let Them Navigate

When my children discovered trail blazes (the markings for the trail), it became a contest to see who could spot the next one first. Before we knew it we were cruising – dashing from one painted tree to another. Give them a map, once they’re old enough, and they can get lost in evaluating distances and contour lines. Add a compass to the mix and you’ve got two intrepid explorers who think they’re off to Alaska!

How To Hike With Children Tactic #4: Clamber

We couldn’t help chuckling on one hike when the two little miscreants complained that they were tired 3/4 of the way up. The reason we laughed instead of berating them was that they had shimmied up every big rock we passed on the trail. If you account for the extra mileage up and down rocks, they had doubled the trip. Like I said, the standard goal – reaching the top of the mountain – may not be the best measure of success here.

How To Hike With Children Tactic #5: Make Believe

Since my son was in my belly, we’ve been hiking the mountain that rises up behind our home. And along the now very familiar trail were some very familiar – and magical – friends. One tree had been knocked around and sprang up again until it looked like a unicorn nodding its head. On every hike, we solemnly walked under it’s chin, letting the magic seep in. Not too much farther down the trail, was the old elephant, a log that looked just like an elephant raising its trunk in greeting.

Sometimes we were seeking dragons. Sometimes we were escaping them. But hikes with children can always use a good dose of imagination.

How To Hike With Children Tactic #6: Race

Okay, caution has its place . . . But if you’re physically up to it . . . And if you have the dexterity to go with it . . . race. Leap from rock to rock, push yourself to go faster, push yourself to beat everyone else. Jump on the picnic table at the bottom and raise your hands to the sky as you celebrate your victory.

Okay, be a little cautious – no need to crack a nose or wear out your knees. Don’t go beyond what you’re ready for at the time. But even if you just choose a nice smooth stretch with just a couple tree roots to make it interesting when you leap over them. Race.

How To Hike With Children Tactic #7: Wonder

How did that rock get here? How did that tree manage to grow on that rock? Why are there no trees up here? What a weird mushroom! Take the time to look and ask and think and ponder. You can bring a book along. But I prefer to leave the books for when we return home and spend more time on the trail pondering and looking.

How To Hike With Children Tactic #8: Reward

One of my favorite hiking memories is snuggling up in a cleft of rocks one November day and sharing a couple cups of hot hot hot ramen noodles. Doling out venison jerky comes as a close second. There is nothing so delicious as a simple meal at the top when you feel exposed and adrift in the big outdoors. Hot chocolate, biscuits, a crisp apple, peanut butter sandwiches . . . blueberries provided by the mountain!

Nothing feels so luxurious as the simple things in life brought out by some hard work up against the elements. And anticipation of reliving this kind of experience will spur your children up the next mountain top. And the next.

How To Hike With Children Tactic #9: Collect

I’ve had pockets weighed down with rocks. Crimson leaves spilling out of my backpack. Acorns, odd knots of wood. A woolly bear caterpiller. And lots of great sticks (usually smaller than the one my daughter brought down). Let them get absorbed in collecting – you know there’s always a better one a few feet up the trail!

Got some great tactics for transforming hikes with your kids? Please add your comment below – and then hit the trail!

About Sarah Clachar And Fit Family Together

Since expecting their first child, Sarah and her husband Cassius have made fitness a core part of their family life. From biking to hiking . . . from the heart of New York City to a farm in New England, they have found a way to stay active together. And through all this exercising as a family they discovered that family fitness builds not only strong bodies – but stronger families.

A professional health writer with a BA in biology, gardener and foodie Sarah brings a wealth of expertise in nutrition and health. A personal trainer and inveterate tinkerer, Cassius brings innovation to making family fitness work.

Ready to make family fitness part of your family life? Take the Fit Family Together 7 Day Family Fitness Challenge and put your own family fitness plan together.

The post How To Hike With Children: 9 Ways To Make Hiking With Your Kids Fun appeared first on Family Fitness | Exercise For Kids | Kids Exercise | Parenting Tips | Family Fitness.

Welcome to Fit Family Together. To get family fitness tips, strategies and inspiration sent right to your inbox, just sign up right here. (You’ll get a great 7-day ecourse as well!)

She was so tiny against his broad chest.

Only two days old my daughter was nestled against him, sleeping so soundly.

Little did I know this closeness would translate into something special years down the line . . .

As we walk down from the soccer fields fifteen years later, she turns to her father and asks how she did.

“Well,” he starts, preparing for the hard truth.  And then it comes.

“You really weren’t doing what we worked on.  You didn’t play out there like you could. Instead of controlling the ball . . .” he continued. I watched as her relaxed face, tightened with disappointment and dismay. It wasn’t easy hearing this. It’s never easy.  But my husband has never been one to soften the blow when it comes to honest feedback. The whole car ride home was filled with a grueling review of the game and where she didn’t do what she’s been practicing.

Now, most parenting articles would condemn this as unhealthy pressure. We’re told over and over as parents to give only encouragement. Honest criticism is discouraged.

Certainly, if your transferring your ambitions onto your child in sports and coming down hard on them when they don’t realize your dreams for you, you should hold back on your critiques. Their lives are not yours.

But without truth and challenge, how can we expect our children to perform at their best in a ruthless world? Let me rephrase that – how do we help our children perform – period – in a tough and unforgiving world?

As I explain in another post, helping your children develop toughness may be one of the greatest gifts you can give them.

We may want to hug our children when they fall short and tell them that’s okay. But their boss won’t do that when they fall short on a project and cost the company thousands of dollars . . . And you certainly can’t simply ask for forgiveness from a grieving parent if you were the surgeon that didn’t do as you’d practiced when their child’s life was in your hands.

As we explain to our children over and over again when these tough talks on soccer come up – “This isn’t about soccer . . . this is about taking an opportunity to practice performing when the chips are down before it really counts. And learn how to manage this pressure and perform at your best. Ultimately I don’t care if you play terribly. But I do want to see you doing your very best – what I know you’re capable of – when the pressure’s on.”

Children need to learn how to deal with stress and sports provide the perfect place to learn this. I explained in an earlier post, not only does regular exercise help reduce the stress response, but it also provides a tangible, well-structured and safe place to face challenges, risk failure and work through this.

But there’s something deeper going on here as my daughter listened to her father . . . and then bit her lip . . . pulled back from her disappointment . . . got out of the car and met him on the field with a soccer ball when we got home to practice where she fell short . . . It’s the factor that allowed her to take on the criticism and still wake up the next morning feeling good.

This special something reaches right back to that moment when she was snoozing on his chest, newly arrived in this world.

And I’ll predict that this same factor will make the difference for her as she goes forward in life. And it’s something that all you parents of young children should take note of. Along with healthy habits as they get older, it may be one of the best life-saving gifts you can give your children.

Here’s The Connection Between Now And Tomorrow

In the early 1990′s when scientists first started studying the physiological effects of stress, they collected data indicating how much of a toll it puts on your body. Many health experts today consider it perhaps the deadliest factor when it comes to health in the 21st century. It can make your arteries clog up more quickly, shrink your brain, destroy your blood-sugar metabolism and fatten your belly. It’s linked to cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and simply put – earlier death.

Stanford University researcher Robert Sapolsky noted that this got worse as we got older. As we get older, our body seems to be less able to turn off the stress response resulting in more stress hormones flooding our system. And this gets worse because these hormones seem to eat away at the hippocampus, the part of the brain that helps turn off the stress response. So consequently, we have even a harder time shutting down our stress response and we continue to have stress hormones released into our bloodstream . . . in turn shrinking our hippocampus even more . . . making it harder to shut off the stress response . . .

You can see where this is going . . . a vicious, debilitating cycle of stress and shrinking brain tissue.

However, as he reports himself, his observations were brought up short by another colleague’s work.

Another stress researcher Michael Meaney found the same results in observing older rats. However, Meaney also paid attention to a significant minority of rats who didn’t seem to have such a problem turning off their stress chemistry.

As he challenged these rats and took blood samples, he found that while the majority had a terrible time with the stress and clearly were debilitated by it, a significant number were not.

And here’s the interesting thing he discovered as he extended this research over generations of rats . . .

The rats that were handled more within the first few weeks of their lives had the easiest time with stress. They had the least amount of glucocorticoids (stress hormones) and the least amount of changes to their hippocampus in their brain.

It seemed that physical contact during the rat’s childhood had everything to do with how much damage stress caused later in life.

Now for those of us – like my husband and me – who didn’t get this extra leg up on stress in childhood, you’ll have to use all these other pressure-relieving tactics I talk about to help modulate your stress response. And don’t worry, with these tactics you’ve got a lot going for you.

But for those of you with young children, here’s some simple advice for helping them later on in life:

Hold them.

Hug them. Snuggle with them.  Wear them on your back or chest in a snuggli. Let them fall asleep on you or beside you.

As they get older, you will have to be tough on them to prepare them for life. They’ll have to learn to manage their emotions, hold back tears, develop resilience and become masters of their attitudes. And certainly as they get older, don’t skimp on hugs and physical closeness. Many a tough soccer talk in our household has been followed by my children leaning on their dad as they watch the news together. Or just wrapping their arms around him and getting close.

But a key time to give them the gift of this security that programs them to deal with so much later in life is closeness when they are young.

As I noted in my posts on mom-baby exercise, you can get a great workout using your babe as extra weight – dancing, doing squats, sitting resting against your legs as you do crunches.

We went on many hikes with our kids wrapped up against us or in a baby backpack.

Find ways to move with them close to you. And know that you are giving them a tremendous advantage as they get older.

Did this spur some thoughts? Please come join me on Facebook and share them.

About Sarah Clachar And Fit Family Together

Since expecting their first child, Sarah and her husband Cassius have made fitness a core part of their family life. From biking to hiking . . . from the heart of New York City to a farm in New England, they have found a way to stay active together. And through all this exercising as a family they discovered that family fitness builds not only strong bodies – but stronger families.

A professional health writer with a BA in biology, gardener and foodie Sarah brings a wealth of expertise in nutrition and health. A personal trainer and inveterate tinkerer, Cassius brings innovation to making family fitness work.

Ready to make family fitness part of your family life? Take the Fit Family Together 7 Day Family Fitness Challenge and put your own family fitness plan together.

The post Saving Your Children From Stress appeared first on Family Fitness | Exercise For Kids | Kids Exercise | Parenting Tips | Family Fitness.

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There was some tough love going down in my kitchen on Sunday.

My son had slept in. But with hungry animals waiting (he had animal feeding chores this morning), we couldn’t let it go on too long. So my husband went and rustled him out of bed, reminding him the chickens, pigs, goats and turkeys needed food and it was his responsibility.

However, instead of making a beeline for his shoes and the feed buckets, he stopped in the kitchen and started leisurely taking out a plate to pile with pancakes for breakfast.

“Hey,” my husband intervened, “What do you think you’re doing?”

“But Dad, I’m hungry,” O answered plaintively clutching his stomach.

“So are the animals,” responded my husband, ” Grab a handful of peanuts and hurry outside and take care of the animals.”

“But Dad, I’m really hungry, my stomach is hurting,” continued O, his voice getting ready to reach a full pitch whine.

“You’re not dying. Hurry up and get this done and then you can come in and have breakfast!”

Clutching his stomach with the drama of a soccer player calling foul, O grabbed some peanuts and headed out.

Before long you could hear him chatting merrily to the turkeys. And his voice bore no hint of whininess when he asked where the goats should be tied up this morning to graze.

After his chores were done, he came inside and contentedly sat down to his long awaited plate of pancakes. Stomach cramps forgotten. Responsibilities taken care of.

I watched this transpire and thought about how lucky my son was to have this experience. I looked back at my too long road to happiness and success marked by giving in too soon too many times at too many junctures.

I wished I had had parents who cared enough to push me to go beyond my comfort zone, even if it risked me being angry and resentful towards them for a while. And I pledged silently to follow my husband’s lead and not always be the one who caves in to whining.

Use Physical Stress As A Parenting Tool

As parents, this is one of the hardest things to give our children. But it’s also perhaps the greatest gift of all – the ability to tough it out a bit and get things done.

More and more, we’re discouraged from pushing our children. Our kids are becoming fragile china dolls who don’t know how to deal with the discomforts life throws at us.

This is why sports, exercise, physical activity is so important. Wouldn’t you rather take your child through controlled physical challenges before Life does it for you when their on their own without your coaching and support?

It’s the difference between going for a leisurely jog and running with a bear breathing down your neck.

And this is why exercising together as a family is so important. Because there is no better person in the world to coach your child through a physical challenge than you.

No coach can give your child that rare mix of tough, unequivocal belief in her and passionate desire to see them succeed. No other teacher can use a track record of trust built over years of care that turns criticism into the truly respectful love that says, “I know you can do better”.

No one else can provide the necessary combination of demanding more of our children and supporting them at the same time.

Sure, it takes some effort and skill to do this well. It’s not an instinctive parenting trait. And of course, you need to really check yourself and use desire for your child’s wellbeing as the motivating force – not the frustration of the moment or your own ambitions.

But ultimately, if you want to do this and you work on it, you’ll do it better than anyone in your child’s life.

You Too – Give Yourself Some Tough Love To Make It Easier

And then take it one step further – model it. Because it’s not just our children who need more of this tough love. We need it too.

There are a number of factors that contribute to the level of stress in our lives. And over the next few weeks I’m going to talk about a few of them.

But chief among them is our diminished belief in our own capacity to get through tough stuff.

Just like we often overestimate our problems, we also underestimate our capacity to overcome them.

And it’s the fear of failing to get through this tough time that really causes anxiety and stress. Our worry worries us.

However, we are incredibly strong. More than we know or are led to believe.

Unfortunately, our culture tends to emphasize how much help we need and how to get the help we need. It emphasizes comfort and convenience.

In many ways we’ve forgotten how capable we are.

Now don’t get me wrong, help is a good thing. Everyone needs help at times.

But don’t underestimate your capacity.

And again, here’s where exercising comes in . . .

When I started running I found that when I pushed myself further I found I could go further than I originally thought.

But it gets better. Not only did this change what I thought I was capable of when it came to running specifically, I also went through a fundamental shift in my belief in my ability to get through challenges in general.

Simply by going beyond the limits I had originally assumed were there I found that I could push myself further in many areas of my life.

By breaking through one challenge I found I had the heart to take on others.

Teddy Roosevelt said, “Let us not ask for lighter loads, but for stronger backs.”

I love this quote because it fires me up to seek the strength inside of me. Admittedly, sometimes I wimp out and start complaining and moaning. But when I take a step back, more often than not I find capacity I’d forgotten I had.

You are incredibly strong and capable. But only if you you exercise your muscles to lift heavy burdens.

Too often we don’t believe in our capacity and opt out, looking for help.

Help is good. But don’t lose sight of what you can take on and what you can do. Don’t panic because you’re not sure if you’ll be able to get help or where it will come from.

We are stronger than we think we are.

Believe this.

Use this to strengthen your resolve to take on challenges.

And then love your children dearly by encouraging them to do the same.

What do you think – are we giving ourselves and our children too little credit for what we’re capable of? Please comment below.

About Sarah Clachar And Fit Family Together

Since expecting their first child, Sarah and her husband Cassius have made fitness a core part of their family life. From biking to hiking . . . from the heart of New York City to a farm in New England, they have found a way to stay active together. And through all this exercising as a family they discovered that family fitness builds not only strong bodies – but stronger families.

A professional health writer with a BA in biology, gardener and foodie Sarah brings a wealth of expertise in nutrition and health. A personal trainer and inveterate tinkerer, Cassius brings innovation to making family fitness work.

Ready to make family fitness part of your family life? Take the Fit Family Together 7 Day Family Fitness Challenge and put your own family fitness plan together.

The post What Causes Stress – Really? appeared first on Family Fitness | Exercise For Kids | Kids Exercise | Parenting Tips | Family Fitness.