Today's installment of "Girl Mom" is all about keeping your kids active!
I'm totally dreading the teenage years when the girls start to worry about their body image and comparing themselves to "Hollywood." I'm trying to instill to them that they are beautiful, just as they are as well as teaching them, that staying active is important!
Just the other day at dinner, Gretchen told me that I ran too much. (I only run 2 maybe 3 times a week), so I thought it was funny that she was thinking I worked out too much, but you know- she's seeing my example now and I want her to know that working out is important too! We have to keep our heart healthy!
Today, I'm sharing my best tips to keeping my girls healthy, sharing a few of YOUR tips, and sharing our favorite snack ideas for staying healthy!
First, I think it's important to get outside every day! Well, not when it's below 50 degrees. (I draw the line somewhere.) But, when it's sunny and relatively warm, we're outside! Thankfully, we have a great neighborhood and the kids LOVE playing with each other!
Megan loves to take her baby sister for walks!
When I go on walks, I take the girls with me! At least once a week we try to walk down to our neighborhood pond and feed the ducks and geese that live there! (Save the left over bread in your freezer, pull out when you want to go for your walk, and it'll be defrosted and ready to toss to the ducks!!
When Gretchen rode the bus, she'd walk to the bus stop! She loved having the independence of walking, even though I was right there with her, but it made her feel like such a big kid!
Head to the park! You'll get exercise chasing your kids and pushing them in the swings, and your kids will get plenty of exercise running, jumping, and climbing! It's a total win win, and I'm so thankful that our town has well-maintained parks!
Summer is near, and if you don't have a pool, buy a cheap kiddie pool for your kids to play in! You might think my big girls are outgrowing the kiddie pool, but they love to splash around in it, or put the bottom of our slide in it and slide down into the water!
Head to the zoo! All of the walking will give you and your kids great exercise! (Side note, but when we went to Disney World, we walked 10 miles in just one day!!!)
Go on a bug hunt! The days after it rains, or right after the rain stops is the perfect time! My girly girls love hunting for bugs!
Grab old pillowcases and have potato sac races!
Go on a bike ride! (And please remember your child's safety helmet!)
I asked you over on my Facebook Group Page for your own ideas, and here are some great ones y'all came up with!
- Treasure/Nature Hunt
- Keep an outside tub of bubbles and sidewalk chalk
- Have a dance party on rainy days!
- Use left over Easter eggs, and hide tiny toys/trinkets in them (dinosaurs for the boys!) and hide them in the back yard!
- Have an archeological dig! Bury things in a sandbox (or even a small tub of sand) and dig away!
- Have a glow party outside in the evening! (Use glow sticks, necklaces, have a cookout!)
- Go to a farm and pick your own veggies/fruit!
On top of being active, kids need to have healthy snacks available!
Chobani has recently come out with Chobani Tots squeezable yogurt! This is a perfect snack for Adalyn, and the best part is that it's made from only natural ingredients and it's GMO free! There are no artificial flavors or ingredients and it's gluten free!
My big girls love the Chobani greek yogurt in squeezable tubes! Since we bought this, Gretchen is finally asking for yogurt again in her lunchbox and Megan loves having it as an after school snack!
Chobani is an excellent brand that we love in our house! Their Vanilla Greek Yogurt is one of my favorite snacks too! I add chia seeds and a few chocolate chips, and it's so yummy!
We keep other snacks on hand too such as cheese sticks, grapes, strawberries, bananas, whole grain crackers, and fruit snacks.
By keeping your kids active and offering healthy snacks, your kids are going to have a head start in growing into a healthy adult!
I've linked up with #chobanikids project. I was not reimbursed for this post and all thoughts/opinions are my own.
I love putting those Greek Yogurt tubes in my kiddos lunches. I think it's a great way to give them extra protein during their day at school. We try to keep our kiddos active too with soccer, dance and gymnastics. I just have to make sure that we don't get so busy being active, that we turn to fast food. That's kind of hard at times.
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