HealthMonday, August 20, 2007 10:51 AM CDT

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B-N family talks about benefits of spending time outdoors

By Paul Swiech
pswiech@pantagraph.com

NORMAL — Cheryl Richards and her children, Tyler and Brie Hines, played croquet, then took their dog, Oliver, for a walk during the afternoon of July 3. They were getting exercise and having fun together. That’s certainly not an original concept. But in an era of an exploding array of technology that keeps people inside — including Blue-Ray DVDs, TiVo, XBoxes and Play Station — in addition to work schedules and security concerns, fewer families are going out to play.

That’s a shame, said Richards, an exercise physiologist in the cardiac rehabilitation department of BroMenn Regional Medical Center in Normal, and Sheri Gatto, director of the Center for Healthy Lifestyles at OSF St. Joseph Medical Center in Bloomington. Playing together is a good way to burn calories, get exercise and bond as a family, they said.

And the play doesn’t have to be intense.

You don’t have to be in a sports camp or in a competitive sport to get exercise this summer. Some kids and adults mistakenly think they aren’t athletic because they aren’t in an organized sport.

The time has come for average families to reclaim fitness, exercise professionals said. The focus should be activity for fun, not to win awards. Summer is a good time to get out.

Parents who ask their kids to come outside to play with them may be surprised at their response.

“Kids don’t like to be bored,” Gatto said. “Include activity and the kids will be a lot happier.”

Richards said, “We all have to have things we enjoy to keep us moving. “The patients I see in cardiac rehab who are doing the best are the ones who are active.”

One reason to reclaim fitness was in the news recently. The American Journal of Public Health reported that kids gain more weight during the summer than during the school year.

“We know kids are less active with both parents working,” Gatto said. Less active children have led to an increase in childhood obesity, she said. Obesity can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

In the short term, obesity can lead to lower self-esteem, Richards said.

Even busy families can fit in fun fitness.

“Integrate fitness into your day,” Gatto suggested. “If you have a 30-minute block of time, take your children and your dog for a walk.”

During the day when you’re at work, make sure the kids spend some time outside. If safety is a concern, organize a play day with a neighbor family or make sure the kids stay in the back yard.

If your children are younger in a day care, make sure the day-care provider includes outdoor activity in her schedule, Gatto suggested.

After work is a good time for the entire family to get exercise. Anyone who has been at work at a computer all day needs to exercise anyway, Gatto said.

The possibilities are endless. A key is to ask your kids what they want to do.

“The kids think it’s play,” Gatto said. “That’s where we want to be as adults. We want to have fun and enjoy it. If you enjoy it, you’ll keep at it.”

It can be a different activity each day. Go for a walk, go Rollerblading or bike riding in your neighborhood, your local park or on Constitution Trail.

“I’ll walk and Tyler (her 10-year-old son) will grab his scooter or skateboard,” Gatto said. “We’re both being active and having fun.”

Playing catch, shooting hoops, hitting the tennis ball or taking swings at a softball or baseball may work for some families. For others, it may be swimming or just playing in the water, playing badminton or bocci.

“Find inexpensive equipment and keep it accessible,” Gatto said.

Richards, 42, is a runner and Tyler, 14, and Brie, 10, are swimmers. But they still play outside.

“There are some things we do because we just love doing them,” Richards said. “I want to make sure our kids are fit for a lifetime so we need to find them things that they will do their whole life.”

The kids have grown up with the concept so physical play comes naturally to them.

“I just like it,” said Tyler, who enjoys walking and playing basketball with his father, Mark Hines. “It’s more fun than being inside.”

Brie enjoys croquet.

“We get kind of competitive but it’s fun at the same time,” she said with a smile. “We have a lot of giggles when someone knocks you out.”

Even when Brie’s fun is more physically demanding, she enjoys it. When she runs with her mom, they both listen to music and sometimes find themselves singing along.

“It’s still fun but I can’t laugh too hard because I’ll get stomach cramps,” Brie said.

Family activities outside are everything from gardening in the back yard, playing with Oliver, riding bikes and scooters, playing croquet, setting up an obstacle course on their Wintergreen Subdivision parkway, running up and down the hill at nearby Prairieland Elementary School, even riding bikes or walking to school.

Richards said, “When you’re outside, you can come up with almost anything.

“Make it fun. Be creative. Go somewhere else (such as a different park).”

“As parents, we need to be active participants and succeed and fail on our own,” she said. “When we stay fit for life, so will our kids.”

There’s another benefit to being active together.

“Kids will tell you things when they’re out playing with you that they may not tell you otherwise,” Gatto said. “Maybe it’s the relaxed setting. It’s more comfortable, so they bring things up. You’re building a better relationship with your child.”

Richards said she recently had a “teen conversation” with Tyler while they were walking on the trail.

“It probably would not have happened if we were in the house,” Richards said. “I think it was because we were feeling confident and happy and there was no stress and no distractions.”

On bad weather days, have fun exercise videos available and do them with your child.

Consider day trips that include physical activity, such as hiking at Starved Rock State Park, Gatto said. Vacations may include hiking, swimming, canoeing and other activities that can build bodies, confidence and healthy family relationships, Gatto said.

“Having fun and living longer is a good thing,” Brie said. “So you want to teach your kids to do it.”

Get out and play

Here’s advice from Tyler Hines, 14, and his sister, Brie, 10, for kids who want to play outside more this summer and fall:

Just go out

Start by just going out.

“It’s not really something you need to decide on,” Brie said. “Just go outside and start running around and you’ll feel better. If you stay inside and watch a movie, even if it’s good, you’re not really doing anything.”

Find something you enjoy

To stay outside, find an activity you enjoy because you’ll be more likely to do it again, Tyler said. It’s even better if it’s an activity that you can do for the rest of your life, he said.

Tell your friends

If you enjoy doing an activity — whether it’s bike riding, Rollerblading, whatever — and your friends see that, they’ll want to join in, Tyler said. Suddenly, something that you enjoy doing by yourself or with your family becomes even more fun because your friends are doing it too.

Personalize the game

Add things to make the activity more fun. Make up your own ball game. Make your own obstacle course. If you’re going for a run, put on headphones to listen to music. On a bad-weather day, pump up the volume inside and just dance.

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Take a look

Tyler Hines, 14, who will be a sophomore at University High School, lines up a croquet shot while playing with his mother, Cheryl Richards, left, and his sister, Brie Hines, 10, right, on the Wintergreen Subdivision parkway on July 3. (Steve Smedley)

Cheryl, center, walks the family dog, Oliver, joined by her children, Brie and Tyler. The family likes to walk and talk together. (Steve Smedley)

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