By Elena Voropay

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.

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!