Participating in family sports has many advantages. You can bond with your children, siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and even the neighbors by setting aside a regular sports night at least once a week. You can all develop coordination and team building skills. You can learn good sportsmanship and teach the lesson that winning isn’t as important as trying.
You will also be able to keep in better shape and decrease your stress levels, meaning you’ll have lowered risk for unhealthy weight gain, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and more. Each season, try a few different kinds of sports to keep the activity interesting.
1. Spring: Baseball or Softball
Come spring, the temperatures will warm up enough that you and your family can start playing sports outdoors if you wear lightweight jackets. When the sun’s shining, play a game of baseball or softball in the backyard. If you don’t have enough team members on your family sports night, just pitching, catching and running a few makeshift bases can pass for a game.
2. Spring: Soccer
Soccer is another great game for the spring season, as long as the ground isn’t wet with dew or water from a recent rainfall. Outfit everyone in the family with shin guards and designate a field in the backyard. Goals can be between two cones if you don’t have access to a net.
3. Summer: Swimming
Summer is probably the best season for family sports. With so many pleasant days, you can nearly always count on being able to exercise together outdoors. Swimming is a great sport for the summer season, especially if you make competitions out of relay races.
4. Summer: Volleyball
Volleyball is another sport suited for the summer season and is made even more fun when played on the beach. Don’t forget that hydrating yourself is especially important when playing sports in the summer, though, as the heat can zap your energy and make you sweat more profusely.
5. Autumn: Football (Tag or Tackle)
Football is suited for the autumn season because you can dress up in extra layers of clothing in order to protect yourself from injuries when being tackled without getting overly warm. At the some time, running around the field will keep you warm enough not to mind the brisk breeze. Depending on how old your children are and if anyone is sensitive to potential injuries, you can make the game either tag or tackle. With tag football, everyone hangs a handkerchief from their pockets and the loss of their handkerchiefs means they have been successfully “tackled.”
6. Autumn: Relay Racing
Relay racing is another way to engage your children in family sports and doesn’t require any equipment at all. Design a course around your yard or a park and time how quickly everyone can run to certain goals.
7. Winter: Basketball
You may be too cold during winter to engage in family sports outdoors, so head inside to an indoor court to play basketball. If you don’t have access to a court and there’s no snow on the ground, you can warm up by dribbling and shooting hoops in your driveway with a hoop.
