12 Days of Fitmas day 6: Healthy Families

Healthy Mom = Healthy Families

My life motto

My Saturday / Sunday routines

The weekend is for family.

It doesn't always go as planned, but we always try to get in one workout and go on an adventure. When I say "we", I mean me and my four year old son. Instead of watching cartoons, he loves to workout with me in the morning. Instead of asking him to leave me alone, we I let him lead the workout. It usually looks something like this. 

Depending on weather, and our schedule, we ALWAYS go on an adventure on the weekend. Sometimes it's saturday, sometimes SUnday, but it always gets done. This is usually just a hike in the woods, but the moments we have together in the woods are truly amazing. Why do I like hiking in the forest so much? This is why I benefit from it, but read on below to find out how it benefits the whole family. 

Why encouraging your kids to be active with you is important

Our kids watch everything we do. They learn from everything we do. Why wouldn't you want them to see you having a healthy relationship with exercise, your body, and nutrition. These observances are what form the foundation for becoming healthy adults. 

Active Kids 

All moms want the best for their children. This, of course, applies to health too. Families can be active together anywhere; indoors or out. I prefer outdoors, but we've made memories indoors too. Being active together only enhances and strengthens our family bonds. 

Some ideas for being an active family indoors: inflatable house, trampoline park, indoor swimming, indoor playground, and more. The key to these activities though is THAT YOU DO THEM AS WELL. GET UP, GET MOVING, AND HAVE FUN.

One of my biggest pet peeves is the mom at the park who tells me she wished she had a body like mine after having kids, then sits at the park while her kid plays and sits on her phone. I'm not saying I NEVER do this, but a playground is really just workout equipment designed to look like fun. Here's a link to a blog post I wrote about getting a full body workout whilt at the park. Get kiddy with it

Why do I love taking my son on hikes?

Besides the great workout I get when we walk three miles together, it is truly magical to see him explore.  This photo below pretty much sums up what I see when I watch him go off the trail and climb a tree or whatever. I see it all, everyday. There is nothing more magical than that. 

Raising healthy eaters

This is the hard part. I'm not always successful, but I've got a few tricks up my sleeve that I think are my secret weapons.

1. Hiding veggies in EVERYTHING! 

1. Spinach hidden in smoothies. J thinks it's his special "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle shake" cause it's green. I told him it probably will turn him into a ninja
2. Hidden veggie noodles. Enough said. Barilla has two good kinds. 
3. This is my favorite trick. I call it the Cauliflower Cheese Switcheroo. I have an old parmeseasn cheese shaker I save. Once a week, I steam cualiflower then run it through the food processor, and put it in the shaker. My son thinks it's his special cheese. He adds it to everything. He has no idea. 

2. Family Dinner

These are so important. You can call me old fashioned, but I don't care. Having a time when we all prepare a meal, then sit down to eat and talk together was huge for me growing up and I love that I can do that for my son. It doesn't happen every night, and he doesn't always like what we have, but we all sit and talk about our day. I believe that this encourages even healthier habits in our children.

 

The forest is my three year old's playground

Discovering bugs and walking our pups

Cook County, IL is known for so many things, mainly being the home of Chicago. Interesting fact, the Cook County Forest Preserve District is THE LARGEST FOREST PRESERVE DISTRICT IN THE WORLD. It was also originally designed by a world renowned landscape architect. 

I have filled this post with some pictures from my most favorite forest adventures. All of them are from Forest preserves by our house. For exact locations, just ask. 

If you're thinking, "I don't live in Chicago. I don't live near any forests or nature," you're probably wrong. A path around a pond in a park, an open field, your own front yard, nature doesn't have to be big to capture a toddler's attention. 

My Playtime Philosophy combines the "Forest bathing" & "Classrooms with no walls" concepts 

 Again, I'm just making up this stuff as I go along, and I'm not perfect, but we find this shit fun.

We judge the success of the day by the mud on our boots

Finding beauty in the dead of Winter

River Trails Nature Center is one of our favorite places on earth. Outdoor/indoor playgrounds, Des Plaines River, walking trails, it's all just so cool.

Summer colors scavenger hunt

Another Summer colors scavenger hunt

Frolicking in the Forest throughout the Fall.

The possibilities of fun are endless in the forest. We just walk, J gets to explore, I get exercise. We have picnics, go on color scavenger hunts, look for animals, count the ducks. We do a lot of talking about our senses. 

"What do you see?"

"How is that different from last time?"

"Have you seen any colors like that before?" 

"How does that flower smell?"

"Think you can climb that tree?"

"What does that feel like?"

"How does it feel when compared to this?"

The beauty of this kind of play is that I don't need to have any answers and he doesn't have to be exactly right, cause there are no wrong answers. 

Let your child lead the conversation. Last week, we actually got lost when we went off the trail and I let the three year old get me and the puppy back to where we needed to be. I knew that heading in a general direction would work, but we were still legit lost. I asked him, "What is this ground like? Have we always been walking on grass like this?" "No mommy. We came through the prickly bushes, like those!" So we walked through the prickly bushes. Then I ask, "Hey Jimmy. If we find the creek we walked by, that will get us back to the path. Do you hear anything that will tell us where the stream is?" ......thinking..........."OOOO Let's go this way Mommy! I think I hear water running! We'll make it and get back." He was so proud to figure it out and explore along the way. If you haven't been out in a while, I suggest you try it again, take your kids, have fun. Don't be afraid to get a little dirty.