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Sports

Teach Your Children the 'Activity' Habit

Athens is full of trails for walking, biking and spending quality time with your kids.

Most of us find that one of the hardest things to do when we are older is to carve out time to exercise. Help make it a habit for your child.

If children grow up knowing how to incorporate activity every day into their lives, they won’t forget this as an adult. What better way to spend quality time with your children?

Make a game out of increasing your activity. Get pedometers for the entire family and chart everyone’s progress on the refrigerator. Give prizes to the family member with the highest number of steps per day or week.

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Plan to walk on the Oconee River Athens Greenway or Cook’s Trail. There are several places you can park your car and walk in either direction on the Greenway. Cook’s 4.1-mile trail crosses an extensive wetland where you’ll get to see a beaver dam swamp and small lake. If you prefer to ride bikes with your children on the Greenway, put the pedometer on your shoes and let it count the pedal strokes.

There are walking paths in (0.6-mile), (0.7-mile) and (0.375) around the small lake with the nearby Birchmore Trail (1.3-mile) winding through the urban forest. The has numerous miles of hiking trails. You can even check out backpacks that have kid friendly ideas to make the activity more fun.

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Try walking or riding in your neighborhood after dinner. When the weather is cold head over to any number of indoor school or church gyms that allow walking around the periphery.

There are some incredible sights to see as you walk through the University of Georgia campus. Parking is limited so increase your activity by teaching your children how to ride the bus--either city or UGA-- to campus. Make it an adventure.

Find a bus stop near where you live.

Make sure everyone has suitable shoes for whichever activity you choose. It's a great idea to start teaching your children to stretch after walking, hiking, or biking, no matter the level of activity. 

Leave the cell phone in the car or house or turn the ringer off. Be 100 percent present when you are showing your children how physical activity can be fun and healthy for the entire family. Years from now, they will thank you.

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