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"Walking You and Your Family Healthy for Life"

By Velma Esprit Garnes

There are many benefits to walking and it’s the easiest, cheapest thing you can do to and get the whole family involved. If you don’t know where to start with an exercise program, this is probably the best thing you can do for yourself.

It’s cheap, weight bearing and you can involve the whole family, not to mention you’ll drop pounds and feel much better.

Recently, I’ve involved my children, two boys 12 and 9, in my endeavor to include more exercise into their lives and my jam-packed regimen. They’ve developed a system based on points to earn money and do their chores with a combination of steps earned from their pedometers.

Not unlike any other children, mine too tend to become addicted to too much video game playing and not enough exercise, so to put a lid on their playing and watching far too much TV, they are only limited to watching TV, and playing their video games on the weekends only.

It helps them to establish balance and moderation while at the same time with childhood obesity on the rise, it is imperative to have something like this in place to intercept the propensity to want to stay inside thereby, get less exercise.

I too wear the pedometer so I can be part of the process. If they see I’m taking it seriously, then they will too. Pedometer can range anywhere from $11.99 - $25.00 each.

I bought them a large dry erase board and two smaller ones to set on each side of the larger one. The larger one keeps the total amount of points for the week. They can total their points for the day and keep track of their points throughout the week. They were instrumental in setting up this whole process, which helps then to feel more part of the game.

It works by setting a base for the amount of steps expected for each day and base number for chores. For our base amount is 10,000 steps, which is roughly 3 miles. The steps are equal to a specific amount of points and their chores are also equal to a specific amount of points.

If they don’t get their expected 10,00 steps per day, then the amount that they are under will be subtracted from their daily total. We are still working out the details for this, so the rules are still a work in progress, but you get the gist.

Since their currency is money and time watching TV and playing their video games, I decided to put this system into place so they can become better managers of their own time and money while they watch their accounts grow.

This system works on many different levels for them: First, it teaches them moderation; Second, they learn how to budget their money as they are expected to give away a certain percentage, send a certain percentage to their savings accounts and they can spend the rest on whatever they want.

This leaves me out of the loop when we are out someplace and they want to buy something. This forces them to see the value of their dollar and how far it goes. If they want a larger priced item, they can be responsible for saving up for themselves with their discretionary income without using their savings account; Third, it teaches them to set goals.

If they want to buy a larger priced item for instance they can budget their money accordingly; Fourth, I don’t have to do all the household chores, nor do I need to hound them to get them done. They are all too eager to keep track of their points and add then to the board at the end of day and see at the end of the day how everything has added up.

This system has enabled us to take more family walks in the evening. Our family walks are also used to get our pedometers to our max value of 10,000 steps should any of us be short.

Since we don’t watch TV during the week, it’s a great way to get the family together and have that evening walk after dinner and it’s something we look forward to. It’s a great way to get more activity into your life and helps to instill healthy habits in the long run into your children.

A warning though, if you treat it likes it’s not important, then your kids will feel the same. Make sure you pay them on time every time. Treat it like they’re little employees and they will take it just a seriously. I can’t tell you how well this is working for us.

Your system does not have to work like mine. If you want to instill within your children healthful habits this is the way to begin. It starts with figuring out their currency. Every child has currency. Figure out what that is and you’re good to go.

About the Author:

Velma Esprit Garnes resides in Gahanna, Ohio where she is a fitness freelance writer, professor and recently inducted into Columbus State Community College’s Sports Exercise Studies Hall of Fame. She can be through her website at www.studiotemple.com