Would You Make Your Kid Ride A Bike For 60 Minutes?

Childhood is full of so much hyperactive wonder. Mudpies and butterflies, as my grandmother used to say. Today's urbanized world forces us to pay closer attention to making sure our children get enough exercise. These poor kids spend so much time at school, and we as parents spend so much time at work, that is difficult to make sure they get enough play time in the few daylight hours remaining. As a result, we must become very intentional about keeping them engaged in activities.

Most parents are right about this. They enroll their children in a variety of sports. Everything from soccer to baseball, and sometimes they get them enrolled in multiple sports at once. This has the frustrating side effect of piling even more events into the parent's busy day. But, for the family who prioritizes an active lifestyle, a busy night of practices is about the only option.

Bikes As The Ultimate Family Workout

Cycling is quickly becoming a favorite family past time for families across America. It's a sport that almost all of us grew up doing. And, as the adage is "You don't forget how to ride a bike." If you are a savvy shopper, you can find cheap bikes for the whole family online stores, like DavesCheapBikes.com. Include them in the bike-shopping process. As a kid, there is almost nothing more exciting than getting your very own bicycle. Add in a bike trailer and some bikes for the older kids, and suddenly you have sport the entire family can readily engage in.

Miles of biking trails cross almost every urban city and they offer an extremely safe environment for the entire family to go riding. Suddenly, getting your kid enough activity becomes a matter of nothing more than putting helmets on and sending them out to pedal around. If you want to increase the challenge for them, you can get on your bike and take them on a longer ride.

Many families make it a nightly activity. In some cases, if you are near the bike trail, you can load the bikes up in the car and drive to the nearest trail for a fun evening of pedaling. For the weekend, longer bike rides can be a real treat. Pack a lunch and start in the morning when it is cool. Wrap up the day with a picnic at the park.

How Much Exercise Is Recommended For Children?

The CDC is considered the authority on this. They recommend sixty minutes of cardiovascular activity for your kids every day. An hour a day of bike riding might seem like quite a bit. However, considering the rate of Childhood obesity in the world today, it makes a lot of sense. Only fifty years ago, televisions were much less, and children spent the bulk of their day outside. In light of that, an hour of activity makes sense as a bare minimum. But we have to be smart about it. Especially if we are increasing our kid's activity level. 

How Much Exercise is Too Much For Kids?

When we adults think of exercise, we think of "going for a run" or engaging in some other high-intensity activity for a set rate of time. Adults are good at pacing themselves. Kids haven't fully developed those skillsets yet. They naturally want to go in sprints. Run hard, rest. Bike hard, rest. Play hard, rest. These micro-exercising moments are natural and help the child find their pace and their balance.

It is essential to encourage your kids to keep playing and keep staying active. However, do so with these "micro-bursts" in mind. You might get them to pedal to "the stop sign." And then you take a little break before you pedal "to the white mailbox." As they get older, the amount of exercise that they complete between their moments of rest should also increase. So you might have them go one lap around the block. And then two laps. Pretty soon you have a kid who is doing multiple laps around the block, and it becomes essential to make sure they are listening to their body and staying safe.

How To Keep Your Kids Safe While Exercising

Just as with adults, it is easy to push kids too hard when they first begin exercising. They have to learn their limits. Even more importantly, they need to master balance and self-awareness. With children spending so much of their lives forced into a sedentary lifestyle, our children have lost the normal awareness of themselves. This lack of motor finesse puts the kids at risk for injuries. Trip and falls, sprains and broken bones are risks that kids face, anyhow.

However, when you take a child that has spent most of their life in low-risk activities and then move them up to normal-risk activities, you have to be careful not to overdrive them. Tiredness also pushes the risk of injury. So increase your kids' exposure to sport at a slow and steady rate. Hydration is also critical. Heat stroke is a genuine threat and often children have not learned to listen to the warning signs of thirst and hunger. It may be a little over-kill, but make a game out of drinking fluids while they exercise. Each child should have a readily available source of water and should be encouraged to drink even when they are not thirsty. Over time, they will develop a healthy sense of thirst, but it often takes a little while before that sense is fully developed. Meanwhile, your proactive technique will keep them safe and build the habit of drinking plenty of fluids.

Whether it is cycling or soccer, keeping your kid active is one of the most significant challenges you will face as a parent. It also provides the opportunity to create some of the most rewarding memories.

13 Ways To Quit Drinking This Summer

The summer is fast approaching, and that means many people will be joining gyms, dusting off the running shoes and starting all manner of weird and wonderful diets.

It's the time of year where your health and fitness is put into sharp focus, and the clothes you want to wear either fit well or need some work to get into.

Alongside exercise and eating well, one of the biggest summer goals is to stop drinking alcohol, or at least cut down on your intake. It can be tough with all those parties, BBQs and weddings you'll no doubt to invited to, but cutting down on your drinking can have a huge effect on your health and fitness, whether it's short-term goals or a lifetime decision you're making.

With that in mind, let's take a look at 13 ways you can quit drinking this summer - and kickstart a new, healthier you:

Stay Hydrated

One of the best ways to avoid the alcohol is to stay hydrated during the hot summer months. It can be tempted to head to the nearest beer garden or bar when the sun is out at the weekend, but the reason for the extra temptation is often because you are not drinking enough water, not because you are eager to drink an ice cold beer. Keeping hydrated with water will keep you feeling full and less thirsty, and will help keep you on the straight and narrow.

Seek Professional Help

If you feel like you need to quit drinking because it is becoming a major problem in your life, you can find Rehab Centers all over the country. They are here to help, and can offer you a number of options on how to quit alcohol for good. Talking to people about your issues is often the best way to deal with them and make that next step in kicking it out of your life for good, so search for centers in your area and speak to them as soon as possible.

Inform Your Friends and Family

If you’re serious about stopping drinking, it’s a good idea to tell the people who care about you the most - your partners, friends and immediate family in the majority of cases - of your plans to steer clear of drinking. They can help you stick to your goals, and because you value their opinions and the way they perceive you, there is a better chance of you sticking to your plans over the long haul.

Track Your Steps

The summer is a beautiful time of year, and the perfect time to get fit and healthy away from the booze. While it’s easy to say ‘join a gym,’ not everybody wants to do that, and it’s easy to start going and then stop within a couple of weeks. Another great way to get fit and stay motivated is to track your steps via your smartphone. If you walk a lot - or even if you don’t - tracking your steps will motivate you to do more exercise, and can open you up to a healthy lifestyle without the pressure of joining a gym.

Make It A Competition

Whether you’re quitting alcohol for the summer or long-term, sometimes you need a bit of a extra motivation to stick to your goals. One way to do this is to make it a competition. This can be achieved in a number of ways: You can ask a friend, partner or family members to join you, and see who can stay off the booze for the longest time. You could also join a sobriety group either online or at a local club (you can search for them online) and use this to keep motivated and on track for a life without drink. Once your competitive instincts kick in, you’ll be less likely to drink than going it alone.

Give Yourself Goals

If you are self-motivated, one way to help quit drinking is to set goals for yourself. These can be extreme or measured, but they should be realistic, as failing even the smallest of your goals could cause you to give up on the rest and lead you on the wrong path back to drinking. You could set a short-term goal of two drinks a week for the first month, then change to one drink a week after two months, one drink every two weeks for the month after that, etc. Whatever you choose to do, keep people notified so they can keep you motivated. You could even go public with your goals and turn it into a fundraising campaign.

Have Exciting Non-Alcoholic Options Available

Due to the growing issue of substance abuse, more and more big name brands of alcoholic beverages are creating non-alcoholic alternatives to their products in order to give choice to people who want to quit drinking but still would like to taste their drink. Non-alcoholic beers are hugely popular, but you don’t need to focus completely on what you can buy on the street. You can make your own non-alcoholic beverages that are fun, exciting and taste great. If you enjoy making cocktails, you can make mocktails for you and your guests instead. A Pina Colada tastes just as good when it’s missing the rum. Use fresh pineapple, bananas and coconut milk, and enjoy a delicious smoothie instead.

Get Running

Beating the booze is a lot easier if you are mentally and physically fit, and one of the best ways to achieve this is to start running. The summertime is the perfect time to get a pair of running shoes on and hit the road, and whether you’re a new starter or a seasoned pro, it will go a long way to keep you out of the bar and away from the alcoholic beverages. If you start to feel fit and healthy - and you can see the positive changes running is making on your life - you are far less likely to have even one drink on a night out, let alone going hard all night long. It’s one of the many reasons running is so addictive: it changes your mindset as well as your body.

Use Social Media for Motivation

Going public with your plans is a great way of keeping motivated, and in the modern era, that means announcing your non-drinking plans on social media. The likes of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are used by billions of people, and once you announce that you’re sober, your friends and followers will be eager to see how you get on in your quest. Write regular updates on social media - including weight loss news, healthy lifestyle changes you are making, etc. and you will soon develop a following of well-wishers who you will want to please, and therefore keep on track of your non-drinking goals.

Evaluate the Cost of Drinking

Many people are shocked to hear how many calories are in alcoholic beverages, but if you only drink in moderation, you are less likely to make the change and quit drinking. However, when you evaluate the cost of drinking, you are more likely to quit as you will see what a difference it makes to your finances. If you’re going on holiday in the summer, quitting drinking in the months leading up to you going away could save you a great deal of cash, especially if you drink on a regular basis. When you see the difference it makes on your finances, there is a good chance you will make further cuts to your alcohol budget.

Have Designated Drinking Days

Many fitness fanatics swear by living like a nun for five days a week, then enjoying a cheat day or two over the weekend. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be doing the same with your alcohol intake, and it could help you quit for good. If you are tempted by drink in the working week, make a promise to yourself to only have a drink at the weekend. Or if you only drink at the weekend, tone this down to one day instead of Friday to Sunday. Small changes in theory, but they could have a huge effect on your health in the long term.

Make Your Home an Alcohol-Free Zone

You are likely to be spending more time out of the house and in the sunshine this summer, so why not make a drastic change at home by making it an alcohol-free zone? If you have no booze in your fridge and cupboards, you are only ever going to be able to drink when you’re out of the house, and this costs more money and is likely to be less convenient, particularly if you are driving at the time.

Keep a Diary of Your Progress

If you really want to quit drinking this summer, you should consider keeping a diary of your progress. You can do this in a number of ways, including writing down exactly what you drink every day, or tracking your food and alcohol intake on a smartphone app like My Fitness Pal. Keeping track of what you drink will help motivate yourself to beat your previous totals, which in turn will keep your alcohol intake in check and help you move towards a healthy, booze-free lifestyle this summer.

Saying Yes to My Family and No to a Lot of Other Things (and my new house keeps surprising me)

This weekend, Friday through Monday, is the fishing trip my husband and his identical twin brother go on. They have always brought kids with them, whoever wanted to come. Sometimes my oldest daughter goes, but my youngest has never wanted to. This year my oldest decided she wanted a girls weekend. This meant my husband took his 3 sons (remember My Three Sons? such a great show!) and his twin took his 3 sons. This year his oldest, a girl who is in college now, also went. That's 9 ways of crazy and fun, in case you lost track.

FRIDAY
They got a late start to the lake, and the girls and I just puttered around some. I proofread until I decided that was dumb because I wanted to hang with my girls. So I bought The Devil Wears Prada with my Google Play credit and found a movie the girls really ended up enjoying. We keep making jokes about it ... "That's all." ... "I starve myself until I feel like I'm going to faint, then I eat a cube of cheese." We discussed guys and what NOT to do. We went to bed around midnight.

Sidebar: we found out last weekend from the previous owner of our home that we not only have pear trees but also peaches and apples and ... mulberries. This is significant to me because we had mulberries in our backyard when I was growing up and they were heavenly. To have my kids also experience this amazingness ... it's just one more sign that this house was supposed to be ours. Oh, and there is a lilac bush (always has been one of my fave flowers) right outside my bedroom window! This house keeps surprising me with messages from beyond!

SATURDAY
We had a bunch of errands to run quickly. First up was to get a mocha frappuccino light with coconut milk from Starbucks because I NEVER go there anymore and Joel had gotten me a gift card for Mother's Day. Then PetSmart for super worms for the bearded dragon. Found a great cat to adopt but it was already taken. Boo. HyVee for some sale things and to stock up for the 24-hour challenge the girls were going to do later. Target for ingredients for SLIME. Slime is our life.

Sam had a soccer game at 3:30 so I met the guys at a church in Spring Hill, KS to pick him up and we headed out for his final game of the season = a big win! He played goalie the first half and rocked it on the field the second half. He says soccer is his life and that's why I made it a priority to grab him and take him ... then return him back to the church so they could all go back to the lake.

Mommy's little goalie!

The 24-hour challenge started at 6:30 p.m. It's when you stay in one room for 24 hours and you can't come out for anything. Location = my bedroom since it is the only room with a connected bathroom. The girls made the best slime of their lives, they said. They hung out in their dad's closet, which contains our fireproof box. Yeah, the one I had to lug to a locksmith a while back since I had lost BOTH keys.

Pizza ... Canadian bacon is the way it came, so I fried up some bacon for it as well since my girls love bacon ;-)

We got glitter at Target for Ultimate Slime. Shoot, I knew you'd want the recipe. I'll have to come back and post that. This one had foaming facial cleanser and body foam to make it fluffy.

Girls making slime

I proofread on Aron's laptop in there since I broke mine. Don't ask (but I will say that my book I'd been working on forever may very well be lost, and I'm strangely okay with that, like I got a message to slow down). Oh, and I also lost my wedding ring last week. It was not a great week. I could use some prayers about the ring!

SUNDAY
I slept later than I have in probably a year (almost 9 a.m.!!!) and got up to proofread. I painted the girls' toenails bright pink, and they played Sandbox on their Kindles, watched some shows on their Kindles, read, played with slime and were kind of bored. I did a lot of dishes plus more laundry than should be allowed by law, made some fun food for the week like lime rice with Ranch and cumin, listened to gunshots, and stared out at our property. Luckily it was not a great pool day :-)

Joel, who has his own car now, left the campsite to hit two graduation parties to celebrate three of his friends. One was homeschooled all the way through, one was most of the way until senior year, and one went to regular school until senior year, when she was homeschooled. See, we have a diverse group of peeps, and it's clear "school" comes in many shapes and sizes!

This was actually taken Saturday after we dropped Sam back off. I hate saying goodbye to my family but I love when they go on adventures together!

I made Taco Soup for dinner. I also made two tater tot casseroles and froze them since I knew I would need something to take to TWO different potlucks on Wednesday (homeschool co-op field day and Theology of the Body for Teens final party). I did all this while watching The Real Housewives of Miami on Hulu because it doesn't take a lot out of my brain. I also get some weird sort of pleasure out of cooking and eating while watching women who probably barely eat so they can stay super skinny, which is not one of my main priorities in life.

At 6:30 the 24-hour challenge was over and so we had some taco soup (see recipe above) and left at 7 for 7:30 Mass. It felt weird going to church so late!

Eva did not want to quit the 24-hour challenge. I think it would be a great thing to do again in the winter, but not all 5 kids at once!

Callie made Daddy's closet her little haven. Yes, that's a fireproof box and no, there's nothing exciting in it besides photo negatives. I once had to call a locksmith because I lost both key to it! And yes, we have a security system for our home, plus cameras plus a gun so, haters, just don't even tell me how dumb I am to post this photo.

FINAL REMARKS
We said no to a lot of things this weekend, but we desperately needed a chill weekend. We needed to sleep and be lazy. I needed to catch up on house things and make homeschool plans and make some meals for the week. Joel attended the graduation parties and represented our family.

So we did not attend the graduation parties as a family like we normally would. We said no to Seussical. No to the dedication of our church (two-hour Mass then potluck) after remodel, which meant no to Callie dressing the altar and no to her singing in the choir and no to two practices for that as well with 40 minutes of driving for each one. No to the twice-a-year family reunion picnic. There were other things and I can't even remember them! Things kept coming up and I just kept saying no.

Instead, I prioritized my girls and honored that they wanted to do this challenge and that it would keep us home. I prioritized my soccer-playing son. I prioritized my home and my sanity for the coming week. We are just coming off a busy season of musical theater and we didn't know what hit us. We had to recover.

I didn't feel as selfish and guilty as I thought I would. I know my peeps understand. If I run myself into the ground, I can't be good for anyone. I'd be a crappy wife, mom, homeschool teacher, co-op teacher/planner, friend, daughter, everything. I'm feeling a pull to TREASURE my family. Also, why would you ever want to leave this? I mean, we prayed for our dream house for so long and we have it ... we need to hang out here as often as possible on our little patch of heaven way down south!

Womanhood Woes: The Difficulty of Balancing Kids and Career

Juggling womanhood can be complicated. While we live in a much fairer society these days, as women
we’re the ones that carry, give birth to and in most cases act as the primary carer for our children. This
is, of course, a wonderful, incredible experience but it can mean we’re constantly living a balancing act.
If you want (or need) to continue working, you have to sort this around childcare. You need to be around
when your child gets sick; you will want days off so you can see them in plays and on sports days. You
will need to drop them off and pick them up from school, extracurricular activities and seeing friends all
around your work. It can be challenging to have it all, but there are some ways you can make it easier.
Here are a few ideas.

Work Part-Time

One thing you could do if you want or need to get back into work after maternity leave is to ask if you
can work part time hours. This allows you to keep up your skills in the workplace but without missing
out on too much time with your children. If and when you do want to get back into full-time work later
down the line, you're already in the swing of things and it's far less of a shock to the system.  If you're
in a position where you don't want or need to go back to work, but don't want to lose your skills either
then why not study? It could be anything from an online neonatal nurse degree to an online psychology,
art or creative writing degree! If it's something you're passionate about and it can help you in your
career path it's worth doing.

Find a Flexible Job

If you have a job which allows you to be flexible with your hours, this is a great way to balance work
and kids. Being the boss of any kind of business is a useful strategy for balancing work and kids as
you get to call the shots. There are all kinds of home based jobs you can earn money from these
days. Take working as a freelancer or blogger for example. You could even set up your own home
business, some ideas include selling items you have made yourself or just buying wholesale and
selling for a profit. It can of course take time for these things to become established and start earning
you regular money, but if you know you want to have children later on, how about doing this part-time
for now and getting established. Then later on, it's a great source of income that you can work around
your family without having to leave the house. If you are only just starting out in your career and know
you want kids in the future, considering this kind of path allows you to get established before your
children come along.

Photo

Wait to Have Children

Waiting a little while until you’re established in your career before having children can be helpful. If you
disrupt an established career by taking time off, you’re far more likely to get into it. Having kids earlier
on can reduce your earnings over a lifetime. Lots of women are waiting until later in life to have kids,
some even going to the extent of having eggs frozen just to ensure they have a backup plan.

How To Inject Some Passion Back Into Your Marriage

Are you experiencing a difficult period in your married life? Don’t worry, it would almost be weird if you didn’t go through at least one difficult spell during your marriage. When you commit to someone for eternity, there are bound to be a few lows along with the highs. What’s important is that you get out of the low points and make the most of all the highs.

For many married couples, there’s always the same problem. After a few years together - normally once you’ve had some kids - the passion between you almost dies out. What was once a burning flame is now barely even a flickering spark. But passion isn’t something that just disappears and never comes back. You can inject some into your marriage by reading this advice:

Image from Flickr

Take A Break From The Kids

You love your kids, obviously. However, you can’t deny that they’re probably the main reason there’s no more passion in your marriage. You never hold this against them because they’re your pride and joy - nothing makes you feel better than seeing your kids do well at school or grow up into respectable adults. Anyway, what you can do is take a bit of a break from them with your husband. Go away for the weekend or have your kids stay with their grandparents. This gives you something you’ve probably not had in years; real, proper, alone time. There’s no need to worry about children bursting into your room or asking you to do something. You haven’t got to plan dinner or work; it’s just the two of you, on your own. Sometimes, this is all you need to suddenly feel that passion once more. You’re free from everything causing stress in your life, and it’s time to spend a day or two with one another, reminding you why you got married in the first place.

Consider A Testosterone Booster

A common cause of this lack of passion can stem from the man in the relationship. Perhaps he just isn’t as excitable as he used to be, which happens to a lot of men as they get older and lose some of their libidos. As such, why don’t you consider a testosterone boosting supplement out there like Tongkat Ali extract? Something like this can improve your husbands T levels, which directly influences their sex drive. Make sure you get the best Tongkat Ali you can find, so it’s potent enough to make a difference. By taking this, your husband will suddenly feel way more passionate, and it can completely transform your marriage. It’ll be like you’re new lovers once more, and the burning flame is truly reignited.

Exercise As A Couple

I’m all for being healthy and trying to exercise regularly/eat well. Speaking of which, if you and your husband start exercising together and working out as a couple, then you’ll be stunned at how much passion this can inject into your relationship. It’s just special to do things together and work towards a shared goal. Plus, there’s the obvious excitement of seeing each other's bodies improve and recognizing the hard work you’ve put in. Trust me, this is a surefire way to set the passion fire alight.

Try these tips if your marriage lacks passion right now. Believe me, it won’t stay like that for long if you follow my advice!