When I started making it a goal to get in 10,000 steps daily, I wondered how I was going to accomplish this task. I don’t have a treadmill and I have two young children. It was a puzzle I knew I had to solve.
Most of us know that getting in more steps per day is good for our health. We’ve all heard the 10,000 recommendation, but how many of us actually accomplish this goal?
My First Step
I am an active housewife and mother. I rarely sit down during the day as I always have something to do or a workout to complete. But I had no idea how many steps I was taking.
I bought a cheap pedometer off of Amazon to track the steps I was taking. I was shocked. It was so much less than I anticipated. It was a good reality check that even though I’m active, I wasn’t getting enough movement throughout my day. Of course, some days (cleaning days) were better than others. But my activity wasn’t consistent enough.
Brainstorming How to Accomplish my Goal
My husband loathes taking walks around our neighborhood. To him, it’s boring and with kids it adds a level of stress because of street safety.
My kids LOVE being outside, but would complain when we took walks, at first.
I love walking. Love it. But I couldn’t leave my kids at home while I did it. I don’t have a treadmill.
I saw the benefit of getting my kids on board with these walks as they need to expend energy as well. And for this reason I wasn’t keen on getting my walks in before they woke and after they went to bed. Though I have taken walks after bedtime and that’s always some nice alone time and a great stress reducer for me.
Here’s What I Did
I decided I would drag my kids along until they stopped complaining about it. We started with short distances. Around the block was all. And they complained. But as time went on, they complained less and we were able to extend our distances. I refused to use a stroller or wagon because the walking was good for them, too. They eventually built up their stamina and tolerance.
When we started going on walks around our neighborhood, I made sure to make it interesting. I looked for fun things to point out in people’s yards. I pointed out flowers to smell (but not pick). We named our walks, too. For example, one of the houses on one of our walks has a giant metal sunflower attached to it. That walk is called the sunflower walk.
We walk to an attraction if it’s close by. There is a small farm near us that has goats and occasionally, other animals. We call that one the animal walk. When a goat is pregnant, I use that to my advantage and ask them if they want to see if the babies are born yet. We pick dandelions along the way to feed to the goats when we arrive.
Going the Extra Mile
My eldest recently learned to ride a pedal bike. We have a really nice, smooth path nearby that’s great for biking. So we do that sometimes with the bikes. I am not in a place where I feel comfortable safely riding a bike with my kids yet, so I got a pair of rollerblades! It works well. I have only ventured that when my husband will go with us so one of us can stay close to the slower daughter on her trike. We have races. It’s great fun. And while it doesn’t count for “steps” it’s a great way to get in movement.
I also let my kids bring their bikes on other walks. Sometimes they bring their toy stroller to push their babies. Sometimes we play red light, green light. They also do what they call “running walks” where I give them a destination they can run to and wait for me. This is a great way to teach impulse control by the way. Whatever gets them excited to go for a walk!
Street Safety Tips
I have a little jingle I sing to my kids when we come to a place where we need to cross the road. Any road, busy or not, and every time.
I’ll tell you what it is.
“When we stop to cross the street, we look both ways” Then click my tongue twice. That’s it. We look both (or all) ways and when we’ve all deemed it clear, we cross. We held hands at first (and still do if moving vehicles are present). The girls are so familiar with it, they are eager to sing it themselves, instead of having me do it.
I am teaching them to look for back up lights in driveways before passing behind cars. I am also teaching them to listen for cars and that some cars (hybrids) barely make sounds. Soon I will teach them to look in the cars for drivers, which is a good way to make sure a car won’t move.
If they are having a hard time listening to the rules, they have to hold my hand. They like to hold my hand when it’s their choice, but when I tell them to, they don’t like it. So I use that to my advantage. Have autonomy and listen to the rules, or hold my hand.
Walks Now
Now my kids ask to go on walks daily. We made it part of our routine to take a walk each morning after my husband goes into his office. We get it done while it’s still nice and cool. I let them choose which walk we’ll take and usually what thing they’ll bring along, (depending on safety and my comfort level). They don’t complain much anymore about walking and they’ve gotten up to walking up to 2 miles at a time.
We’re off to take our morning walk now. Time to see if those baby goats have been born yet! Get outside with your kids, let them take their steps along with you. I promise, it’s worth it. My kids’ moods are better when we take our walks and they sleep more soundly. Win, win.