Healthy hobbies families can enjoy together
Resolutions to get fit might garner the bulk of people’s attention come New Year’s Day. But resolution season also marks a great time for busy families to commit to spending more time together.
Hobbies can bring people together, which makes them an ideal outlet for families who want to spend more time with one another. Families on the lookout for hobbies they can enjoy together can consider the following activities.
• Hiking: Hiking is a family-friendly activity that’s free and ideal for individuals who also want to turn over a healthy leaf as the new year dawns. The cardiovascular benefits of hiking are welldocumented and include lowering hikers’ risk for serious ailments, including heart disease. But the exposure to nature that hiking provides can benefit entire families. A 2015 study published in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning found that hiking can help to reduce feelings of anxiety. Hiking trails run the gamut from flat trails that are ideal for families that include young children to more challenging trails that require a little climbing.
• Cycling: Cycling is another healthy, family-friendly hobby. The experts at MD Anderson Cancer Center note that cycling builds muscle, helps people maintain a healthy weight, releases endorphins that can make it easier to relieve and manage stress, and improves balance. Both adults and children can reap those rewards. When cycling with young children, parents can look for flat cycling paths that won’t discourage kids or require them to do more than their bodies can handle. Older children and teenagers can handle more challenging paths, and parents of children in these age groups can even consider incorporating mountain biking into their cycling routines.
• Cooking: There are plenty of family-friendly hobbies that can be enjoyed at home. Cooking is one such hobby, and it can have some surprising benefits for youngsters. According to Nemours KidsHealth®, cooking can be a great way for parents to reinforce basic math skills kids are learning at school. Older kids who don’t need such les sons can benefit from cooking with their parents by learning to prepare nutritious meals that can lay the foundation for healthy eating habits throughout adulthood.
• Painting: Painting together as a family can benefit both adults and children in unique ways. Harvard Medical School notes that studies have found that artistic expression can help people with depression and anxiety. Young children, including preschoolers, also can benefit from painting, which helps them develop both their fine and gross motor skills and improves hand-eye coordination. Parents of adolescents should know that painting has also been found to be a productive outlet for teenagers to express themselves, and the process of seeing a painting project through from inception to completion can boost confidence and selfesteem.
As the new year dawns and resolutions are made, families can look to various hobbies they can engage in together to make the year ahead both happy and healthy.
