We often get the question as to what Barb and I did to raise children that have such a focus on Health and Fitness and are so active?
Our friends know that our children Tim, Matt and Lauren(that are now age 27,24 and 21) are and continue to be very active and physically fit. So the question that Barb and I regularly get asked is “how does one instil that same habit in their children?”
In today’s blog, I will focus on the exercise/fitness component of our children and what we have done to instil those habits in them. They also eat an incredibly clean and healthy diet however I will address the “food” aspect of their health in another blog.
Besides having physically fit children, I believe our family has very close family relationships due in part to our focus and participation in many activities together over the years.
Don’t know any different
When I think about it, the easy answer to the question about their active way of life is that they have never known any different way of life. We as parents have always been active with our children and would suggest that by “Walking the Talk” with our children, they have never known any other way.
The Early Family days at the Y
When the kids were young, Barb and I used to make it a family habit to go the Y on weekends with the kids. We would put the children in the nursery when they were babies and that is when we would workout. Following the workout, we would then take them to the kids gym, swimming lessons, or public swimming and then we would all go for lunch. We would essentially spend about a half a day with them and spent time together focused around health and fitness. We had this same routine when we moved to London, Calgary and when we moved back to Burlington. I should also mention as the kids got older we still made many trips to the Y for workouts as they were growing up and in fact I have been a Y member since 1985.
I think back to other things we did with them when they were young. I enjoyed cycling and in order to involve the children I actually put a baby seat on my mountain bike and would go cycling for hours at a time with them in the baby seat or carrier. I often bring up this story with Tim and suggest that is the reason he likes cycling so much today!
In fact, when we moved to Calgary, a working associate asked me to go in a multi-lap downhill Mountain biking race at Calgary Olympic Park and I showed up to the race with a baby seat on my bike(Looked like a total loser!).
As they got older, they became involved other activities such as football, golf, hockey, track, running and alpine ski racing to name a few.
I would say that our family life as they were growing up revolved around their daily activities which were largely in the sports world.
I think back to my runs at the cottage, at home or at Bronte Park where one or more of the kids would regularly join me on my runs. In fact the kids often comment on how tough they found those runs when they were young but wanted to spend time together. As they got older they continued to do these activities on their own and to this day we always try and schedule runs, rides or workouts together when we can on weekend.
What happened as they got older?
As the kids got into their teenage years, they started choosing the sports they wanted to be involved in on an ongoing basis. We also ended up going to the same gyms over the years depending on what workouts we were doing. In high school, in order to train for football, the boys started going to SST(Sport Specific Training) which was a great stepping stone for them building strength. Instead of dropping them off for their workouts, I started going to the same gym about 10 years ago so we could be at the same gym and in fact I still do my strength training there. We would once again typically go for something to eat after our workouts and our “go to place” was JC Bagels in Burlington which is still a destination whenever we are in town.
Tims focus as he aged was on ski racing, Football(playing high school and at Western) and later on competing in Triathlons, Marathons and Cycling.
Matt focused on Rugby, and football while in school and then attended a Ski Academy in Lake Placid when he was 15. He later went on to compete on the National Ski-cross team representing Canada.
Lauren was very active in all school sports however focused on ski racing, track and cross country running while at school and later on trained and competed in triathlons.
How does it look now?
All of the children continue to be very active and I don’t think many days go by without them going to the gym or having a workout.
Tim raced Triathlons with me and was an honour for both of us to represent Canada together at the World Triathlon championships in Edmonton and Chicago a few years back. Most recently Tim has focused most of his training on cycling and racing and joined me in a week long intense cycling race last year in Sardegna.
A few years ago, Matt retired from ski cross and started working out at Cross Fit and recently he qualified to represent Canada at the World games in England. This is his current passion and is 100% committed to being the best he can be in the sport.
Lauren has been very active running and currently is the Captain of her college Cross country team in New York City and also “runs” a running group. In addition, Lauren ran an off road marathon last year in Bear Mountain NJ which was a true test of character. Lauren and I continue to go for runs whenever we are together as we love our time running together.
Family Time At cottage
When we are together as a family, we always try to schedule workouts together. For example when we go to the cottage, when we wake up we always have planned activities whether it is running, cycling or using the gym. When able we always try to do our fitness activities together.
Our guests know this routine as we typically do our activities first thing and then meet late morning or noon to have our “breakfast”. I must say that this isn’t just restricted to our family as girlfriends/boyfriends also participate and do their own activities.
Family Support of Health
As a family we always support each other in our physical activities or competitions. It is very common that when one of us is competing or racing, there are always notes of support and encouragement from other family members.
We also have had fun competing together in events over the years. A Mountain bike race or Road race in Ellicotville or a race up north called Muskoka Rocks to name a few. At one time, I could beat the kids in this race and others however as they have got older and more competitive I am now last in the family(kills me to say that)! Needless to say that over the years of our family racing, there has always been a lot of family friendly “trash talk” amongst us as to who was going to win or who was going to beat who. Always a ton of fun while still having some good friendly competition.
Whistler Training Camp
This past summer, Lauren and were lucky enough to go out to Whistler for a week and we called it Training week. We went out to enjoy the week but also to hike, mountain bike and run during the week hence the name “Training week”. Essentially every day was spent doing different physical activities together and we had an amazing “father/daughter” time together. I look back on this and it was another example of how our valuable family time was spent “moving”. In fact while we were there we ended up running up Whistler Mountain the last day which resulted in a 27 km, 4 hour run together. We made a “pact” that we would do the same walk/hike or run up whistler 25 years from then. This means that the goal is that we will run/walk/hike the mountain together when I am 81 and Lauren is 46. Wow! If you missed the blog on this, you can access it here:http://kevinbradyhealth.ca/training-week-in-nature/
Going To Philly for NFL Game
As I write this, I have just finished spending an amazing weekend with Tim and Matt in Philadelphia for our boys football trip. We are now in our 16th year of this tradition so we are half way through our goal of visiting every single NFL stadium together(I will be 74 when we are done!) Although our entire weekend was focused around football, we also made it a priority to get our workouts in together. After an early morning Saturday flight, when we arrived we located a Gym across the street and had a 2 hour plus workout together. During the weekend, Matt also took us to a Cross Fit gym that he was training at and we had another crazy 3 hour plus workout while there. Needless to say I came home a little sore but feeling very fit!
We are closer because of Exercise
Activity and fitness has always been a part of our families life and our children have really not known any other way of life.
Besides the physical benefits of exercise, there are also many mental and emotional benefits of participating. I also believe we are much closer as a family due to us having fun and enjoying fitness activities over the years together. I also would think that this quality is instilled in our kids for life and they will likely pass on the same type of lifestyle to their children down the road.
Wishing you and your family a healthy day, Kev
The Family Number 1 Fan!
1 comment
Hi Kev,
That was the best. I am sure everyone who reads your blogs will appreciate the time and effort you put into outlining your family’s activities. Congratulations. You and barb should be very proud of your kids…
Marge