By Elena Voropay

Don't you wish that alarm clock would never go off every early morning? Uh, when was the last time you could sleep in?  Life is too busy. The result? Families don't spend as much time together as they used to. What's more, the health of our children, and even our own health, is taking a nose dive. Why not combat the two together by sharing the most precious times in physical activities? This is a great way for your kids to learn the beauty of exercise and remind you how much fun you can have just playing there with kids.

Getting everyone ready for school, packing lunches, rushing to work, all these phone calls and important meetings in the office, then after-work drinks, shopping, make dinner, call parents and neighbors to check up on their concerns, have a talk with a partner about this and that, maybe some TV, and hopefully by midnight you can retire for a much needed shut-eye. Sounds familiar?

Well, maybe your schedule is not as hectic, but we all get the idea - life is busy. Actually, there is no life, just business. Nowadays, commitments take all our available time and we forget the most precious part of existence – the family. Unfortunately, most of today's parents don't share nearly as much time together with our children, so they seem to grow by themselves.

If you take a minute and think about it, more and more kids are becoming unhealthy, unfit, unmotivated, sick and just plain bored. What happened? Where are the fun-loving active gigglers that can't stop playing ball, asking for more crispy fresh apples and cobs of corn from the barbie? It looks more like the TV is always on, empty bags of potato chips and pop cans are everywhere in the house. Somebody is responsible for all of this – and it is not the kids.

Where Are the Healthy Kids

Children and adolescents are becoming increasingly overweight, and that's not what we all wish for future generations. According to statistics, the number of overweight children in Australia has almost doubled from 1985 to 1995 showing that twelve years ago 19-23% of Australian children and adolescents were overweight or obese. (Magarey AM, Daniels LA, Boulton TJ. Prevalence of overweight and obesity in Australian children and adolescents: reassessment of 1985 and 1995 data against new standard international definitions. Med J Aust 2001;174:561-4. )

What's alarming is that obese children and adolescents are at greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea (interrupted breathing while sleeping), have high cholesterol and blood pressure levels, and become more susceptible to heart disease and cancer. Obese children have a high incidence of orthopedic problems, liver disease, and asthma. In some cases obesity, lack of physical activity and poor diet can lead to problems with learning and memory, very important for the young developing minds. But the real trouble is that overweight adolescents have a 70 percent chance of becoming overweight or obese adults.

Childhood obesity, just like obesity of adults, is usually caused by kids eating too much and exercising too little. Since children undergo major metabolic and hormonal changes, setting up their bodies on the right path will help in proper growth of healthy tissues so they can live free from unwanted diseases in as adults. Increasing physical activity and choosing nourishing foods to support proper growth of your children can help to keep weight at a healthy range and can also improve the health of other family members. The important part is that the good things you do now, like spend more time with your children and give them attention, will help everyone to connect together and bring happiness and uplift the spirit – just what we all are searching for.

Break Free From Challenges

Successful prevention and treatment of childhood obesity starts at home, and the most important person in charge is you. Shaping your children's immediate and long-term habits is in your hands. So, do the best you can to start setting up the patterns of your lifestyle on a healthy road and you will harvest the most delicious ripened juicy crops of your effort seeing that every single person in your family will have a happy and fulfilling life for many years to come.

Children can't change their exercise and eating habits by themselves. Making changes can be challenging, especially when you try to juggle work, social life, daily chores and responsibilities. Busy schedules, time and money constraints, demanding friends and relatives, sicknesses, and other stressors take out the quality of your life. But don't panic, take a big breath and rest easy. Firstly, you need to put your mind in peace and realize that there is only so much you can do in a lifetime. Take one day at a time, make short-term plans reasonable and you will succeed. Also, get your family together and try to share the beauty of connection.

Once everyone comes to the same pace, then communication and action becomes easy. Don't worry about anything – it will all happen as it should once you set your heart to it. Eventually the new changes of making time for your closest and most loved ones and being active with them will be incorporated into your family's everyday life and will become just the only way things are done. In no time your healthy habits become routine and the life of every member of your family will shine again.

Spark The Desire To Change

Your daily habits are the main pieces of the family health puzzle. If you spend most of your shared activities in front of the TV or computer, at the table or reading books, you will progressively see less desire to be active. Your children will also lose the motivation or the reason to get outside and active play games that may be wonderful for their developing learning minds and terrific for healthy growth of strong bodies. If these behaviors or habits are hard to change within a family now, later will be even harder as the established patterns will accommodate the comfort level. Taking even small steps right this moment can make a huge difference in the future. Strive for gradual progression and you will see amazing results in no time!

Children need regular exercise to build strong bones and muscles. Exercise also helps children sleep well at night and stay alert during the day. And the best part is that active children are more likely to become fit and healthy adults – what a rewarding payoff for your work of taking such good care of your offsprings!

These helpful hints may help you spark some new ideas in how you can have a lot of fun in your family. Remember, children's brains and bodies are like little sponges now – they will absorb the information and new patterns very quickly and will enjoy these if you teach them how to.

• Be a role model. If you want an active child, be active yourself. Try not to sit around too much and get yourself moving – go for a walk in the park, do some gardening, clean the house, or decide on a home renovating project and ask your kids to help with small things, like bringing you tools, putting away the garbage, or organizing their rooms. Also, don't avoid moving a little bit extra if you can, like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking the car farther away from stores or school. If you live within 30-minute walking distance from the library, shops or park, make it a habit to never drive there and cycle or walk there instead.
• Kids love fun stuff. Any outdoor play will do it for them – swimming, canoeing, hiking, bushwalking, biking, roller blading, or simply going for walks and discovering new unknown plants, birds and animals. Plan a trip to the Zoo or Aquarium, a museum or a library and spend as much time there as you can to keep moving and discovering the wonders of our planet. Let your kids see how much fun you can have while being active. Don't just run with them, run like a gorilla. Climb like a spider. Walk like a cat. Hop like a kangaroo.
• Get your children interested. If you all want to have fun, the key is to find things that your child likes to do. For instance, if your child is artistically inclined, go on a nature hike to collect leaves, rocks or shells from the beach and encourage the young one to start a collection. This will keep him or her motivated and give the reason to go next time. If your child likes to play more active games, choose a sporting activity, you may team up with his friends or neighbors and play football, basketball, softball, even tennis.

Active changes should be done slowly, but there is no reason to wait. So, start now and make time for your family. Plan a fun day out, or even just take a lunch break and spend that extra hour in the park with children. You can get a lot done if you plan ahead.

Pack plenty of water, juice, some healthy snacks like fresh fruit, sandwiches with peanut butter and strawberries, chicken breast salad wraps, yogurt, baked crackers, low-fat cheese slices and some dried fruits and nuts. Don't forget to take napkins and baby wipes – these are terrific for cleaning up the messy hands!

The most important part – games. They are so much fun and should be the focus of your wonderful day out everybody will remember for a long time. Your kids will beg you to do it again, and again, and again. Get ready for some creative and engaging activities. Don't stress scores or competition; just keep it fun and simple with as few rules as possible.

These games can be done anywhere and by anybody, regardless of age. Believe it or not, even the most serious adults find these so entertaining once they get into the action. This is the new beginning and a chance of a lifetime to recall what it feels like to be a child.

Because children usually have shorter attention span, it is important to keep them interested. One of the best ways to do it is to change activities every 10 minutes. During the short breaks, give them plenty of liquids to drink to keep their systems well-hydrates and minds electrified with the excitement.

Dancing Creatures

Put on your child's favorite CD with upbeat music and and turn it up – the power of sound will get you all moving. Encourage all to start dancing like an animal, bird or a sea creature and then suddenly say: “Stop!” Choose one person to guess the names for all in the dancing animal squad and let each dancer approve or disapprove. After that, everybody should change their character and you continue playing the music.

Worm in the Grass

Hold one end of a jump rope and run around while wiggling it pretending it is a large worm. The children must chase the rope until they catch it. Then, reverse roles.

Partner Tag

This game is best suited for larger families with four people or more. Make pairs with children and hook your arms. Each couple spreads around the field, and the one person left without a partner becomes the one chased. The one being chased can hook onto one of the pairs scattered on the field, in which case the second person in that pair becomes the new When a tagging occurs, the roles simply reverse.

Wolf and Colored Eggs

One person is the "wolf" and the rest line up next to each other, with the wolf facing them. Everyone in line picks a color in their mind. The wolf then says:"Knock-knock", the line answers: "Who's there?". Wolf replies: "A big naughty wolf with curly hair". The dialog continues:

- What do you want?

- Colored eggs

- Which color?

The wolf then says a color and the person who has that color in mind becomes an “egg” and starts running around from the wolf. If the wolf catches the "egg", then that person becomes the wolf. The game starts over. If the wolf doesn't catch the chosen “egg” and that person makes it back to the line after two minutes, the wolf then calls out the next color, etc.

Learn To Play 

You may always ask your children to think of any of games they know of, or maybe the movie and cartoon characters like to play. If they teach you the rules, then guess what? You have just upgraded your IQ and now can score higher on general knowledge. Plus, your brain cells are always hungry for something new and fresh, and it doesn't have to be all adult-related mind-boggling stuff full of 'have-to' and 'should do'. Get excited, break free from routine, learn, discover – and your body, mind and spirit will be healthier without effort!