By Elena Voropay

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.

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.