Vote in This Week's Poll: Did You Grow Up in an Active Family?
At some point in our lives, most of us will blame our parents for something. Sometimes, the blame is a little misplaced. For example, I used to blame my mother because she made me do chores and she made me go to school and because she grounded me, even though all I did was take her car for a little ride (without a driver's license) and, hey, it's not like I wrecked or anything.
Sometimes, however, parents do end up teaching us the wrong things without even realizing it. That's never more true than with exercise and fitness. While we make our own decisions as adults, those decisions may be influenced by how we grew up. Growing up in an active environment may provide you with the foundation you need to stay active. A more sedentary childhood may creep into your adult life as well.
I'm curious about you and your history. Was your family active and healthy? Or did you grow up in a more motionless household? How do you think that has influenced your habits now? Vote in this week's poll and tell us about how you grew up. How much do our histories influence our adult lives?
More About Family Fitness
If you're a parent, there's a good chance your kids will eventually blame you for something. You probably can't escape that, but you can bypass at least one potential mistake by teaching your kids to be active now, while they're still young enough to embrace change a little more easily than us adults do.
Comments
I was the only active one in a family of seven, 5 siblings, 2 parents
I voted “no.” I did not begin exercising until I was in my late 20’s when I started dating someone (now my husband) who had been involved in athletics and exercise his entire life. Were it not for him I don’t know that I ever would have gained an appreciation for exercise. As a result I am very conscious of modeling an active lifestyle for my child.
I have been played football for ten years in young
If by active you mean not sitting around on our butts, yeah..after school my sisters & I were always running around, at the playground, doing something. On weekends always at some park with my Dad & others. As far as working out is concerned didn’t really get into that until early 40’s. Now I am in the best shape of my life at 53!
No not at all. I actually started to workout in my twenties after witnessing what an unhealthy lifestyle can do to a person. I did not want to be like that!
I was raised in a big city, lots of neighbors, lots of physical activity. I started boxing in the Cub Scouts at about age 8 or 9, ten years later got a letter on my college boxing team, got out of shape and despite my athletic prowess couldn’t get a date in my swim suit. Duh. For vanity’s sake started keeping fit; and that was 55 years ago,and I’m still at it.
My wife and myself both grew up on dairy farms. You had no choice in being active. Now that we’re in our 50’s that work ethic keeps us active.
i voted “no.” my parents did encourage my sister and i to play outside, and we did. but we also ate ice cream every night. my dad used to play soccer with my sister and i, and our soccer-playing dog, but we still had terrible diets. running around the backyard isn’t enough to counteract all the junk food. it wasn’t until my sophomore year of college that i determined to do something about my weight, and i’ve definitely succeeded in becoming fit and healthy. and the best part is that my mother and father are so impressed by my success without junk food that they’ve made major changes in their own diets. sometimes i wish i’d done more sports and stuff as a kid, but i guess everything is meant to happen the way it happens: if i hadn’t grown up eating ice cream and doritos every day, maybe i wouldn’t be so disgusted by them now
Funny, I never thought of my family as active, although my sister and I always played a lot of sports. But looking back, we definitely were an active family. We camped and hiked a lot and went on long backpacking trips every summer. My dad often helped coach our soccer/basketball/softball teams, and my mom did a lot of aerobics-style classes. But my parents stopped doing that kind of stuff when my sister and I moved out. My dad is active on-and-off now, but I’m the only one who’s consistently active.
I said “sometimes”. Like others have said, I was encouraged not to sit in front of the tv, and to “go out and play”, but I was born in the early 60’s and it was okay to go out and play then, and I did, and I walked for miles with my dog, and I went horse-riding, but I was never actually encouraged into *fitness*, per se. I don’t blame my parents. Neither of them had much idea about healthy living. We didn’t live on junk food (couldn’t afford it, and my mum would not have wanted it), but we did eat a lot of desserts, including ice-cream, cake, cookies etc. My mum was all about moderation, and eating plenty of fruit, and having veggies with meals, but she would also bring home tons of sweet and sugary desserts – and she continued to do that all of her life. She was never overweight, in fact suffered from an over-active thyroid which was never satisfactorily managed so was steadfastly underweight her whole life! My husband and I manage our kids differently. They see us working out, we talk a lot about healthy food/healthy eating, and our middle son has plans to be a runner which we are encouraging and facilitating. They know the facts about food and exercise – but then we are all much better informed than we were 40+ years ago. I wonder how much their lack of knowledge contributed to my parents early deaths in their mid-60’s? I don’t want that to happen to me, or our kids, and I’m doing my utmost best to live healthily, and to give them the tools to also live a long and healthy life.
I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s. We played outside a lot because that is what everyone did then. We played hide and seek, tag, jump rope, climbed trees, football and baseball in your yard, all the things that you just did growing up then. I remember my dad playing on a softball league. We did not have girls little league then but I would have loved it!
Mother was the only one who was not active. Dad and the five of us children were and are very active. Mom sits. And complains that she doesn’t go anywhere, walking tires her out, everything is too much trouble to do (especially if it involves getting up from her favorite chair)
I WILL NOT be like my mother. I like staying active. When I’m 77 yrs old, I intend to be very active. It’s sad about my Mom.
I was the oldest of 4 kids. We never got rides anywhere we had to walk. I guess that was good. At least it was some sort of exercise. My parents weren’t into sports or anything active. We had our chores to do and we always went outside. Never really hung in the house. That was what it was like growing up in the 50’s and 60’s. My kids are more into fittness than I was. I’m glad. At 55 I try to stay in shape and eat a lot healthier.
I grew up in the 50’s and early 60’s. My family wasn’t active in terms of sports and stuff but my dad had a vision for the yard which seemd to involve a great deal of physical labor on the part of the whole family, including smashing up rocks which were too big to move with a sledge hammer-great fun for a teenage boy.
Also if it was less than 2 miles away it was considered walking distance for the children and less than 10 miles was bicycle distance-they had better things to do with their time than drive us in the (1)car. This included being sent to the store on foot for a few groceries, after all the store was only 3/4 of a mile away.
I tried to raise my kids this way also but since it was no longer the norm it didn’t work.
Curt