Are you looking for some direction and accountability when it comes to implementing some family wellness? Round up the family and give this 30-day Family Wellness Challenge a try. This challenge will address mind, body and spirit! Each week you’ll focus on one to two wellness-oriented tasks. The goal is to add to them each week for the 30 days to build some good habits for you and your family. By the end of the 30 days, you’ll have some skills you can practice all year long, or you can begin the challenge again. The choice is yours!
Week 1: 20-30 Minute Walk
Pick a time that works for all of you to go for a 20-30 minute walk (after supper is great for a lot of reasons, but I’ll leave that choice up to you). Adjust to your family’s needs. Make it fun, see the neighborhood and just enjoy being outside!
Week 2: 20-30 Minute Walk and Water Challenge
Keep your evening walks going and add a focus on increasing water intake this week. Substitute water for juice, sports drinks and pop. Aim for 40-64 ounces of water each day for each person.
Week 3: 20-30 Minute Walk and Water Challenge and Top Chef Junior(s)
Now bring your kids into the kitchen each night to get them excited about where their food comes from! Once or twice this week (or all seven days, if you’re ambitious), ask the kids to help you prep and cook! Choose some fairly easy meals to get them started, share an old family recipe or get creative with your dinner presentation. When you’re done, sit down together with a “no-screens” supper and talk about the meal you’ve prepared together.
Week 4: 20-30 Minute Walk and Water Challenge and Top Chef Junior(s) and Random Acts of Kindness
Let’s top off the challenge with an exercise in spiritual and emotional well-being. Be intentional about making plans ahead of time with your kids to perform several random acts of kindness this week. These activities will work to grow servant hearts in your family. Choose an act together and allow your kids to have ownership and engagement. Focus on the service reward of performing the act over any recognition or repayment. As John Bunyan said, “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”
Check in with each other at the end of the month to reflect on how the challenge went. Lather, rinse, repeat and you’ve got a recipe for fun and to improve your family’s health!
