Taking Care of Your Child’s Mind, Body, & Soul

This post was sponsored by Boys & Girls Club as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central.
All opinions expressed in my post are my own.

I’m sure all of you have heard about Boys & Girls Club of America, but you might be surprised to learn about how they are working to keep kids healthy, mind, body, and soul too!

Triple Play is the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s health and wellness program that is leading the way and catering to America’s young people. The Triple Play program is all about promoting the three pillars of wellness—mind, body, and soul. They focus on introducing healthy lifestyle changes to children in an appealing way to help encourage kids to stay fit, healthy and active. National support from the Amerigroup and Coca-Cola make it possible for BGCA to operate Triple Play. I think it’s great that BGCA is on a mission to help set kids and teens on a path to success by giving them the education and basic tools that they need in order live happy, healthy lives.

As we approach the holidays and upcoming school breaks, it’s important for us as parents to find ways to keep our kids active and healthy.  Breaks in your everyday routine and lack of school schedules can derail our efforts to keep kids healthy and active which can lead to inactive, unhealthy days. Many Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide have extended hours during school breaks that fit within families’ busy schedules so you can be sure to keep your children active all the time!

As a mom of 4 bright, beautiful kids, I make it my top priority to teach them how to make good choices, lead a healthy lifestyle and stay active. If you are a parent, you know that’s not always an easy job, but with a lot of hard work and patience, we can raise happy and healthy kids – mind, body, and soul!

 

MIND

These days it’s so easy for kids to want to vegetate in front of the TV or a computer, rather than actually use their little brains. Truth is, kids need to use their brains more than think! TV, video games, tablets, and computers have made it way too easy for kids to let their brains go idle. Lot’s of parents need to set time limits on computer and TV usage in order to get their kids motivated to do other things. Thankfully, keeping my own kids motivated to use their brains has been easy! My three older kids are technology inclined but rather than sit behind the computer all day, they like to build inventions with Legos, experiment with electricity by using their Snap Circuits, and draw pictures of things they want to build. All these activities are great for their minds by growing their problem-solving skills and engineering mindset. Believe it or not, just playing outside in nature can help kids learn too!

I also work hard at encouraging all my kids to read and have a strong love for books! Teaching kids to love reading isn’t always easy, but it’s so worth it. Once they know how to read and love reading books, they can learn absolutely anything they want! I always look for books, toys, and games that will help build life skills so no matter what they are doing, I know it’s helping them work towards a successful future.

 

BODY

Kids are notorious for having a lot of energy, but if you lead a sedentary lifestyle, chances are your children are going to emulate that. That’s why it’s so important for parents to model the behavior they want their children to have. Do I feel like working out and exercising? No! But I do it anyway to show my kids that making a commitment and keeping it is rewarding and feels good. Do I like bundling up on cold days to take the kids outside for a walk? Not usually! But I do it anyway to let the kids know how important it is to stay active, exercise and get some fresh air!

Being in New England, it’s much easier to stay active during the summer months when we can go outside on walks every day, go hiking on weekends, go swimming, be in the garden, do yard work, play on the swingset or even do fun family activities like go to Storyland! It’s harder to stay active in the colder weather, but I still make sure my kids get outside for fresh air every day even if it’s just playing on their swingset or feeding the chickens!

 

SOUL

Our faith is our top priority in life and an important part of our family’s daily routine. We make sure that we take time to get together every single morning and pray together. This has really helped our family as a whole and has helped strengthen our sense of togetherness. Just taking the time to all sit together in the morning, all 6 of us, and be together for 5 minutes has made a huge difference. I think it’s extremely important for kids to see their parents fight for togetherness. It’s so easy to get caught up in our individual daily routines that we might not actually get to all sit down as a family. Implementing our little morning routine has been so worth it, for us and for the kids. Family is worth fighting for and it’s one of the biggest things that is under attack in our culture today. Most of today’s kids have their own lives and their own agenda and that whole sense of “family” has been lost in our busy lifestyles. Taking time to do something as a family is so important for kid’s sense of security and their soul and I think they will grow up more confident, positive, and self-assured by having a strong family unit.

 

Boys & Girls Clubs of America Triple Play Program

 

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Boys & Girls Clubs main objective is to provide safe, fun, and affordable places for children to go after school or during school breaks so they can connect with caring, trained professionals that will help them engage in enriching programs and fun activities. Boys & Girls Clubs serve a whopping 4 million kids and teens at more than 4,300 Clubs in communities across the USA! From dense cities to suburbs and even in rural areas and U.S. military installations worldwide, BGCA is working to provide kids and teens with the best opportunity at succeeding in life!

For more information, visit the BGCA Triple Play Website

Also find them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.