Having your children home for the summer can be both joyous and stressful. One way to relieve stress is to exercise together while everyone is home.
With summer break quickly approaching, parents of school-age children are both excited and nervous. We love having our children home to make sweet summer memories—but packing everyone into one house for weeks at a time can be stressful. If you want to reduce your stress without leaving the house, try some of these summer exercises you can do at home with your kids.
1. Neighborhood Races
Running is a great form of exercise for all ages. It gets our blood pumping and strengthens our bones and muscles. While you can bring your kids with you on a run, your different leg lengths and experience levels may make running together difficult. Instead of getting frustrated, use these differences to your advantage: plan a race around the neighborhood! Remind younger children to stay within your line of sight and choose a fair end point where older children know to wait for you.
2. Follow-the-Leader Cardio
Follow-the-leader cardio is an excellent option for families that prefer to work out indoors during the hot summer months. Assign a group leader to perform whatever cardio exercise they want—exercises that everyone can already do, such as push-ups or jumping jacks, will work best. The rest of the group will follow! Change leaders throughout your family fitness time to keep things interesting.
3. Swimming for Your Sanity
Seasonal activities are great ways to include your kids in your fitness routine, especially if the kiddos are reluctant to join at first. They won’t want to miss out on classic summer activities such as swimming, so they’ll likely jump at the chance to head to the neighborhood pool with you. (Yes, this is technically outside the home, but no further than the neighborhood races we suggested above!) Kids who usually don’t enjoy exercising don’t need to know that splashing around in the pool strengthens their hearts, lungs, and muscles while improving mental health and sleep.
4. Backyard Ball
If you want to get outside without leaving your property, your family can play a game of backyard ball together. You can choose any ball game you want. If your child is involved in a summer sport such as baseball or soccer, practicing together will help you bond and exercise. If they plan to participate in a fall sport such as football or lacrosse, you can still get in shape for the season together. No planned group sports? That’s fine! Just find a sport you all enjoy and start running around the yard together.
You can do these four summer exercises at home or close to home with your kids. No matter what form of exercise you pick, focus on making your fitness routine fun for everyone involved. We only get 18 summers with our children, so we must make the most of them.
