A family that plays together, stays together or so the old saying goes and in fact more recently research has found that this is true, if your family share values, beliefs and interests then statistically you are more likely to stay together in your relationship/ as a family.
I'm pleased to say that we do share values and beliefs as a family but our interests are more diverse and at first thought this seems OK to me, variety is good, right? But then think about it a bit more and it really does make sense that if you are doing things together and particularly having fun doing something a little strenuous that gets the endorphins going and gives you a natural high that it glues you all together just a bit firmer.
Since we moved to the countryside a couple of months ago getting fit and healthy has been a big focus for me. I'm enjoying my lakeside walks most days and loving getting out with the kids on the weekends to go foraging and exploring. Dh works some weekends and has therefore not been out with us as much as we may hope and it was an email from Mark Warner Holidays last week that made me realise we need to do something about that.
When we first moved here it was the height of summer and school was on break so each day JJ would get us all out after dinner for a walk or to play a game, it was good having that special time together. Family time he christened it. Sadly as the evenings have drawn in and school is back on we seemed to have lost some momentum with this but we have a target to meet now. Mark Warner have asked us commit to getting out and having some fun as a family for at least four hours during October as part of their 'Stay Active Family' challenge.
When I first read about the challenge I was a bit dismissive, Miss M broke her elbow a week or so ago and she is in a cast so my immediate thought was that we would not be able to join in. But musing on it, I realised that actually this is exactly what we need and I do not need to make any excuses.
So last Friday it was JJ's birthday and we headed up to the staffroom to join the staff for afternoon tea and a surprise cake for JJ. Another of the families who live on site came up too and we just launched into an impromptu game of basketball. Is there a better way to burn the freshly eaten cake off? This is not the sort of high-energy game that I'm normally up for but I had fun helping Miss M realise that she can do things with her arm cast on, we just have to be careful. I whooped for joy as I scored a goal, or is it called a basket? who knows, it does not matter we had fun.
JJ and daddy got competitive together and Miss E had great fun with one of the volunteers as they ran round and round. I can report than no-one got whacked by the ball and we did in fact have a brilliant time for the half hour we played, as you can see from the photos.
I hope seeing the pictures of this old fat bird playing a bit of basketball might inspire you to try something fun and new with your children. It is so easy nowadays for kids to just sit inside with their iPads or laptops and they are missing out on the wealth of fun we had as youngsters riding on our bikes or playing games such as 50:50 home or Stuck in the mud. It seems universal that kids just want to spend time with their parents and if we lead the way to an active life that is what they will learn and live.
Do please leave me a comment and give me some ideas for fun activities we can do together this month, or tweet me and use the hashtag #MWactive.
Thanks, Mich x
Disclosure: For posting about the activities we get up to this month I will be entered into a competition to win a Mark Warner holiday, I am not receiving anything for writing this post and of course, as always my words are honest and my own.
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