Is there anything more lovely than seeing kids enjoying their childhood and running wild? I just love it! I love to see my kids enjoying the outdoors, in the fresh air and running around, because not only is it a fantastic natural (and fun) form of exercise for them (and it’s free), but it makes me happy to see them letting off steam!
On the 24th of April 2018, children from across the Humber region will be getting together to participate in the Humber “GO Run For Fun” – A FREE event taking place at Hull Ionians Rugby Club, in partnership with Active Humber! It will span across 2 KM and is promised to be a fun free activity, where children can enjoy themselves and achieve something, all while taking part in physical exercise. The organisation is also providing a Health & Wellbeing Programme alongside the event to educate young children about the importance of diet and regular exercise, which I think is fantastic.
With 21 schools taking part from across the region, including the run, a fun warm-up for the kids, and an appearance from the mascot, it looks like so much fun, and I kind of wish my kids were going to be there too (I know they would love it).
GO Run For Fun is an organisation set up and committed to helping kids between 5 and 10 to get more active and healthy through their free running events. Their aim is that simple – get more kids running! And since starting in 2013, they have already welcomed over 200,000 young runners across their events in the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, Mexico and the USA.
Children’s health has been hitting UK headlines recently, with Public Health England suggesting 22.6 percent of children aged 4-5 and 34.3 percent of children aged 10-11 are overweight or obese. As a parent this is so troubling to me and we have always tried hard to help our kids be active and eat well to avoid the problems that come with kids being overweight. GO Run For Fun not only aims to deliver these fun, mass running events but, as mentioned, is also delivering a full Health & Wellbeing Programme to support the initiative.
How we help our kids stay healthy …
We are quite an active family, who enjoy a lot of things outdoors, and so often our weekends will involve a walk of some description in nature! My kids, however have always been active and keep healthy by scootering or biking to and from school every day, by doing sporty extracurricular activities, and by us monitoring their snack/sugar intake.
We all enjoy a treat, but often at home we eat mainly vegetarian, and their main snacks after school is fruit, a wholemeal wrap with natural peanut butter, or raisins or something similar. We occasionally have crisps but I only ever buy enough that they would get them twice in the week maximum! All of our meals during the week though are fresh, cooked from scratch and mostly veggie. It’s something I really enjoy, and cooking for me is such an enjoyable thing, that we eat a wide range of foods and flavours! I find that this is not only a cheap way to eat when feeding the 5 of us, but I also find that the majority of things I make are also colourful and therefore have the healthy factor.
Just last night I made an insta-worthy dish that everyone thoroughly enjoyed (and lots of people asking for tips). It was honestly so quick, fresh, full of flavour, and healthy too, so I thought I would share it to give you a sense of some of the things we love – I present to you “Falafel with Giant couscous salad & Tzatziki sauce” – Yum!
Falafel & Giant CousCous Salad with Pitta & Tzatziki Sauce
You will need:
*Falafel (my falafel is shop bought from Tesco/Lidl and you can get them in all supermarkets. You can also step up the health factor by making your own, but my homemade ones have always been a little dry!)
*Giant Couscous
*Fresh Spinach
*Baby plum tomatoes (sliced)
*Feta
*Fresh Coriander
*2 Lemons
*Wholemeal Pitta
*Greek Yogurt, Cucumber, minced garlic, dill and lemon juice for the Tzatziki (or again buy it if it’s easier)!
For the Salad – cook and cool the giant couscous, then add a couple of handfuls of shredded spinach leaves, sliced plum tomatoes, cubed feta, and chopped coriander
Pour over the juice of 2 lemons and mix it all up well
For the Sauce (If you are making it from scratch)
Combine chopped cucumber with 2 cups plain greek yogurt, 1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice, 4 minced garlic cloves, 1/3 cup chopped dill, 1/2 tsp salt (add more to taste) and 1/8 tsp black pepper
Then serve with warmed pitta and falafel (again cooked), and enjoy the deliciousness!
Our Favourite Humberside spot to get some exercise…
Moving to a new area means you have both the privilege and challenge of finding new favourite spots to enjoy with the kids/as a family! Whilst we are fairly new to the East Riding/Humber region we both grew up here and have obviously visited family here too over the years. There are many places that are lovely to walk and cycle, and we especially love the coast. But one of our faves (not far from Hull City centre) would have to be The Humber Bridge Country Park!
I love that it is right on the edge of a city and yet once in there you feel worlds away! It is a nature reserve and a place where you can walk and relax together, have a picnic, play at the park, and the kids can run free or take their bikes and scooters. I also love that because it is next to the Humber Bridge, if the weather is nice you can also factor in the option of a walk or bike ride together across and back – covering an easy and fascinating 2 miles!
Helping kids to stay healthy can be such a natural and fun thing. I love to see my kids being active and enjoying the outdoors. We all love a treat, but I love that this is in moderation and they appreciate the taste and benefits of fruit and vegetables. They are always willing to try new foods, new experiences and as a result are finding things they enjoy whilst staying active and healthy!
Check out the GO Run For Fun mission statement and see if there are any areas you might be able to improve on in helping your kids and family be a little more healthy this Spring/Summer!
Ready, Steady, GO! – Run each day of the week
Bin the Sugar, Win with Water – Drink 8 glasses of water a day
Eating the Rainbow – Eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day
Keeping Going and Not Giving Up – Use the word Yet when you can’t do something, be resilient, not giving up
Team Spirit – Be a team player
Improving Fitness – Be active for 60 minutes during the day
*In collaboration with GO Run For Fun
