From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Fitness Can Be A Family Affair

South Florida Parenting

Their friends affectionately call them "Team Rocket" after the roller-blading, skateboarding, surfing characters on Nickelodeon's Rocket Power cartoon. That's because the Mittet family of Weston - Mom, Dad, two boys and even the pet bunny, who plays soccer - are into sports and physical activities.

The family motto is, "Just try it."

"We've just always exposed them to everything we can," Robert Mittet says about two sons, Sean, 9, and Erik, 6. "You can't force them to do anything. But if you make it fun, they will try it.

"A lot of times, we just decide to go out and do some activity on the spur of the moment. They'll get in the car on five minutes' notice because they know whatever we're doing is going to be fun."

The Mittets are among many extreme - and extremely active - families in South Florida. In these families, the parents do more than sign up their children for league sports. They set the example by participating in their own adult soccer leagues, running marathons, or just getting on their bikes and riding alongside their children. As a result, they are not only living healthier lives and helping their children establish healthy habits, but they also have discovered that fitness is a wonderful way to spend quality family time together.

Fostering Healthy Attitudes

They are the minority of families, but studies indicate that most of us would like to be more like them. In a study commissioned in 2003 by the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, parents were asked to rate the importance of physical activity on a scale of 1-to-10, with 10 being extremely important. The mean score: 9. Still, 54 percent of respondents said they had either no time or wished they had more time to spend in physical activity with their children.

To that, marathon runner and mother of two Karen Burris says: "If there is time to be a couch potato, there is time to go on a neighborhood bike ride."

Families don't have to be as "extreme" as the Mittets or Burrises to enjoy the benefits of family fitness. Walking, biking, skating or tossing a ball or Frisbee as a family works just as well, says Dr. Andrea Corn, a child and family psychologist with a specialty in youth and adolescent athletes. Anyone's family motto can be "Just Try It" - even if it's Mom or Dad who has to be coaxed along.

"Playing together is good for the family collectively," Corn says. "You want to be able to be with each other outside of the typical structure of homework, school, and bedtime routines. When you participate in an activity such as bike-riding together, you get out of the traditional roles you have inside the home and you see each other in a different light." Active parents pass on a life-affirming value, Corn says, as long as they remember to keep it fun, especially while the children are between the ages of 6 and 12.

"The No. 1 reason for children to be in sports is to have fun. The No. 1 reason they drop out is because it's not fun," she says. "As long as parents are respectful of their child's temperament and disposition, then it is constructive. They learn that it's fun to do exercise and fun to do activities together. That's a wonderful message."

To read more of this story, pick up your January 2004 copy of South Florida Parenting today!