Just like last year, our Intentions for the year ahead, is again to ‘move more and sit less‘. If you have read any of Katy Bowman’s Nutritious Movement books or blog posts, you would have read about the importance of a movement based lifestyle as opposed to a sedentary one. What I am trying to do is allow for as much space, time and unstructured play as possible.
My children are always moving in one way or another (my husband and I need to be more intentional about it for ourselves) but here are some ways we are actually moving more these days’;
- Morning yoga-style stretches- takes no longer than ten minutes. It feels amazing to stretch first thing in the morning. My children always want to join in if they see me doing it first.
- On school mornings we either walk part way to school or play outside before school starts. There is nothing nicer than a little bit of fresh air and sunshine.
- Most school afternoons we are all outside whether it be in the school playground space, riding scooters and bikes somewhere, going swimming or kicking a ball around. My eldest is now doing a children’s yoga/movement class once a week after school. My children are not enrolled in any other organised activities.
- On the weekends we either do some outdoor gardening, swim, go for a local walk or bush walk/hike, play soccer, play tennis or just like during the week my children ride bikes or scooters. If children see adults spending time outdoors, they are likely going to want to as well. Being outdoors in nature as a family is so therapeutic.
- Reduced Screen time– we watch ‘no screens’ Mon-Fri (with the odd exception) and watch maybe a family movie or something else such as a cooking, renovation or nature documentary on the weekend together. This works for us at this point as my children spend most of their free time during the week and on the weekends just playing.
- Music- dancing. My children both love to listen to different kinds of music (especially World music) and just dance/jump about. They are often exhausted afterwards but have the best fun.
- My husband plays soccer once a week and I do yoga at home and go for walks as often as I can.
Further Reading–
- Katy Bowmans- A Day (in photos) of a movement rich life. Love this! So many great ideas.
- Plant-based Mumma- Get Movin. A great idea to get younger children to move more.
