MAY is FAMILY WELLNESS MONTH

May is Family Wellness Month, and in the past we introduced you to 40 Ways to Celebrate Family Wellness Month, a list created by College Nannies + Tutors to encourage all families to participate in the month-long celebration. Their thought was, “Wellness is an important component of keeping your family happy and healthy”.  The list includes “40 different ways you can increase your family’s emotional, physical and mental wellness”. And it’s still very relevant today. So we’re sharing the list again in hopes that it helps us all get back to living and being well.

Get Your Family Active  

• Go for a bike ride.
• Explore the outdoors and go on a hike.
• Play a game of tag outside.
• Have the entire family work together on a project like cleaning the house or yard.
• Park farther away when you go to the store. Have the kids count how many steps they take to get to the door.
• Go to the swimming pool.
• Find a family fitness class and take it together.
• Head to the park and spend an afternoon playing games.
• Play an active video game, like Wii Sports or Just Dance.
• Go for a walk together after dinner.

Change Your Family’s Eating Habits 

• Try new foods no one in your family has tried before.
• Cook dinner together as a family one night per week.
• Slow down and eat dinner together at the table instead of on the run.
• Cut out soda and replace with water.
• Serve milk with your daily meals.
• Be a good role model for your children. If they have to eat their veggies, so do you!
• Don’t skip breakfast. Consider having hard-boiled eggs or pre-made fruit salads if you are in a hurry.
• Go grocery shopping together, and let them help plan the meals.
• Have easy to grab, healthy snack options on hand in the car and at home.
• Replace processed, canned and packaged food with whole food alternatives. 

Build Relationships 

• Say “I love you” every day.
• Hold a family meeting to talk through any issues anyone is having.
• Set goals together as a family.
• Have all of your family members share their dreams with one another. Discuss how you can help support one another to achieve those dreams.
• Call or skype a family member that you don’t see or talk to very often.
• Listen more. Learn to hear what your family is saying and feeling before reacting severely.
• Focus on building up your family members’ confidence, not tearing it down. Use positive words and constructive criticism.
• Develop family rituals. These can be done daily, weekly, monthly, yearly – it  doesn’t matter. Rituals can help you connect with one another.
• Give each child alone time to spend with parents. This can help you develop a close relationship with your children.
• Learn how to fight fair and respect one another.

Improve Your Mind

• Set bedtimes for everyone to make sure all family members are getting enough sleep.
• Read together as a family. Choose a book to read together and discuss the story as it progresses.
• Encourage your family members to learn to play a musical instrument.
• Go through old photos and scrapbook your family’s favorite memories together.
• Play a board game together.
• Put together a complex puzzle.
• Do yoga or meditate together.
• Learn phrases in other languages.
• Take time to relax and de-stress.
• Identify and learn your family’s different learning styles.

Which of these will your family try to improve on this month?