Family is without a doubt the most important factor in your life as it should be, however when you have kids things change, you have less time for yourself, you devote yourself almost completely to your children and this takes away your workout time. Well fear no more, I am writing this in order to keep the kids involved in your daily exercise so they can build the habit early on, aside from that starting a family exercise plan really gets everyone together and is a wonderful bonding time. The tricky part is finding a way to keep the kids involved and make sure they don’t get bored, but that’s why you can follow these family exercise suggestions and you can spend time together while getting a good sweat on.

The walker family – There is something to be said when you walk with your kids before or after dinner, one you really get the time to talk to each other and find out how everyone’s day is. This family exercise will really keep the kids involved especially the younger ones as they love spending time with you and sharing all their adventures of the day. Assuming they are teens this is a great way to build up your relationship and improve it by opening up about stuff that they are interested in, take the time and become a walker family.

A little fun bonding and workout would be a routine of walking the dog with your family. Even the pup’s going to enjoy it!

Commercial fun – This particular family exercise may only be best for younger kids, whenever you are watching a show and a commercial comes up or if you don’t have many commercials, maybe the show character says a trademark tagline you can have a contest on who can do more push ups or sit ups. Change the names to something catchy for kids and this will really keep the kids involved, just be ready for the time they start beating you with the count.

Have a weekly workout planned with them – Sometimes you can really schedule these things, like Tuesday and Thursday is basketball night, or Saturday and Sunday is hockey weekend, things like that really work for whatever family exercise you have planned out. The beauty of it is that you can all look forward to it and it will definitely keep the kids involved if they especially love the sport you guys play. It just takes a little planning and time to get really used to the scheduling, it can be a whole lot of fun for the family if done correctly.

Join a race for charity – Find a charity that you really like and something you know the kids will really support to keep the kids involved, in fact let them help you choose one. Then join it as a family and turn it into a family exercise. There are a ton of charities that have turned towards having fun runs and it is a great way to get some exercise in while supporting a worthwhile cause. The beauty of this family exercise is you can get some more practice runs as a family while you are training for the marathon, so a great win-win for everyone.

Do some house chores together – No I’m not talking about the dishes but yes that needs to be done. Overall you really need to do some yard work or something together, make it into a small game or something to keep the kids involved, at the very least it won’t feel like a chore that much. This family exercise not only gets the family closer together, with the added bonus of getting a nice sweat on, it also checks off one of your weekend chores, so I would say this is an awesome idea.

Walking the dog/s – There is a bonus to having a pup in the house: someone has to walk it. While it could turn into a pointing game, it is best to do this as family exercise and at the very least you guys won’t dread it, the dog gets walked plus it’s more entertaining when you have someone to talk to as you guys go around the block a few times. Keep the kids involved by taking turns holding the leash or learning how to give the dogs commands. Make sure to bring extra water for your four-legged companion during summer, you wouldn’t want them to overheat on you.

Family bike ride – Don’t forget this suburban dream! It sounds too great to really take the bike out with the family just going around a few blocks here and there, and you can keep the kids involved since it’s a bike and the kids love biking. This family exercise works better with outside the city areas where the kids can see a lot of things, if you’re lucky to be near the country side well you have a scenic route quite near you, it would be rude to refuse. All this takes is a little coaxing and finally some equipment, again don’t forget safety first.

Biking is always a fun and healthy way to bond with the family too.

Sing and dance as much as you can – Zumba has a lot to do with dancing and quite frankly, if the kids are into it, crank up that radio and belt it out! Mind your neighbors but aside from that this is a lot of fun as a family exercise, additionally the younger kids will love seeing this crazy side of you and will definitely be easy to keep the kids involved in this fun little family exercise. Go nuts, it’s one of those moments where no one can see you dance and it’s all in good fun anyways.

Jump rope – Ok so dancing might be a little too much for you for a family exercise huh? Alright, let’s move forward with jump rope to match that rhythm then. It’s jump rope, so it’s plain easy to keep the kids involved in this one, after all what type of little kid doesn’t like jump rope? When you really get into it and show off some of those boxing jump rope moves, the kids will go nuts and start to practice even more. Perhaps you have some teens with you, then you can challenge them a little to get that spark going, any way you go about it is a great family exercise idea.

Scavenger hunt – So if rhythm isn’t your thing, why don’t you place a scavenger hunt instead in your backyard? Take turns hiding and running around to find some treasures and time it, so you can really get your sweat going for this family exercise. The beauty in this is that you can keep the kids involved since you give them a turn to hide the treasure, plus they’ll love how you’re looking all over the place for stuff they have hidden.

Keep the kids involved in your family activities whether through exercise or something like making snacks together. Make use of this time to bond with them, get to know them and remain healthy altogether. It is a lot of fun for the whole family and quite frankly it keeps the bonding very exciting. Stay healthy!