Today there was a Fitness Family Day at the local Wellness Center and we had a very fun time participating. There were toddler activities, fitness testing stations, fruit and veggie samples, giveaways, classes, everything. And for all ages. I was in all my glory… I love this kind of stuff. These types of events are right up my alley… participating in them, planning them, and/or just being a part of them.
We arrived and ooh-ed and ahh-ed over the energetic, young rock climbers, greeted the smiley dental hygiene collegiate students at their station, and then decided to get started with all the fitness testing stations. I must say, my four year old can rock a plank for over four minutes. Seriously. It was 4 1/2 minutes before he called it quits. My husband and I wondered if we could do that. Now his form was not always spot on but regardless after a few minutes he started attracting a crowd from others- we were all impressed!
But after all the stations we ended our day with family yoga. In my recent post last month {here} I mentioned how I have finally made a connection to the practice of yoga. So I was pumped when my favorite yoga instructor was the instructor for today’s family yoga. My son had been talking all day about how he’s going to do his downward facing dog in yoga class.
During the class there were a variety of poses we all tried- adults and children- and it was great. It can be refreshing to do exercises with little ones. They learn from you as role models, instills importance of exercise and movement, but yet we are reminded of how receptive little ones are to new movements and trying new things. There are many reasons why yoga can be beneficial for kids (an article can be found here), but yoga is something we will continue to encourage for me kids.
A recent news article {here} also outlines the benefits of yoga for children, specifically improving their self esteem and focus. And let’s be honest, adults need an improvement on self esteem and focus (well, some don’t) but let’s start preventative and proactive care early. As a health educator myself, I am a huge proponent of children participating in yoga. At home when I do yoga, the kids join me. But when we were in the family yoga class today, they were guided by someone other than me and now I was a student in the class- just like them.
So thank you University of South Dakota for offering a very fun Fitness Family Day! We enjoyed ourselves and we cam home with tired children… and that, makes all the difference. 😉