Start a Family Fitness Program for Your Family

As a martial arts teacher and a dad, it's only natural that my healthy lifestyle extends beyond the karate school and into my family life.

My wife and my children all have a healthy mindset and a great appreciation for fitness and eating healthy. (watch the video below of my 7 year old son, Christain, having fun exercising at the park)

5 simple suggestions for families who would like to start living a more healthy and fitness life.

1. Make a Game of It

It is important to keep family fitness fun, especially when children are involved. It will then seem less like a chore and the kids may actually look forward to exercise. Go to the park or take a hike. Spend one hour playing games like tag, red light-green light or family tee-ball and touch football. If this doesn't sound fun, stay inside, turn on fun music and dance around for half an hour.

2. Get Creative

Find creative ways to introduce fitness and a healthy lifestyle to your family. Make a rule that if someone watches TV, commercials must be spent doing sit-ups, push ups, jumping jacks or squats. Incorporate chores by turning toy clean-up into a race, or make a basketball game out of throwing dirty clothes in a hamper.

3. Input From Every Family Member

Allow every family member to choose an activity and make a list of possible activities to choose from. This list might include walks, bike rides, dance and fitness videos or martial arts classes. The variety in activities will prevent boredom and will make exercise seem less like a chore.

4. Stay Committed

Set a good example for your kids by staying committed to a healthy lifestyle. Don't allow time-off or breaks in routine unless it can't be helped. If you stay enthusiastic and upbeat about it, your kids will follow suit. Kids will then learn to make fitness a permanent part of their lives.

5. Small Things Matter

If starting a complete family fitness program seems too daunting, start small. Park at the far edge of the mall parking lot in order to walk farther. Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator. When picking up or dropping off at school, don't pull up all the way to the front door. Have your child walk around the grocery store instead of riding in a cart. Chances are, your child won't even notice these changes.

These are just some simple ideas, come up with your own. Please share your ideas below in our comments section.

Now, grab your loved ones and get fit!

- Peter Liciaga, Your Mount Laurel Martial Artist

"My wife and I are currently developing an online family fitness challenge resource site."

For more information about the Family Fitness Challenge, email pliciaga@gmail.com

This blog is part of Peter Liciaga's effort to promote the Ultimate Black Belt Test Program ( http://www.ultimateblackbelttest.com), which is an undertaking of The 100. (http://www.the100.us/), and a part of Peter Liciaga's Dream 100 Project.

Cool Tips for Parents: Keeping Kids Safe During Summer Heat

With temperatures soaring into the upper 90’s and 100’s across the state, your Mount Laurel Martial Artist Peter Liciaga, would like to offer a few simple parent tips to help keep kids safe and cool during this unusually hot weather.

 

"I think this early summer preview is a great opportunity to help make parents and others aware that children’s regulatory systems are much more sensitive to heat than an adult’s. Let’s make sure that we look out for each other and help make the most of this wonderful weather so that it is not marred by a preventable tragedy,” shares Dinoto Karate Center's master martial arts teacher, Peter Liciaga.

 

Facts Every Parent Should Know:

• Heat exhaustion and heat stroke can occur rapidly in enclosed vehicles. Never leave your child unattended in a car. Children’s thermoregulatory systems warm three to five times faster than an adult’s.
• Always check to make sure all children leave the vehicle when you reach your destination. Don’t overlook sleeping infants. (TIP: Keep your child’s toy or diaper bag in the front passenger seat to help remind you the child is on board). 
• On a 93-degree day, the inside of a car can exceed 125° degrees Fahrenheit in as little as 20 minutes. The temperature inside of a car is hotter than outside temperatures, and can climb rapidly.
• Heat stroke can occur in a matter of minutes for young children and infants. Keep children sufficiently hydrated and cool during the day.
• Cracking the windows enough to let in air is not an effective way to avoid the heat risks involved with leaving a child alone in a car on a hot day. 
• Seek immediate emergency medical attention if you know or think that your child has been exposed to high temperatures by having been left in or accidentally trapped in a car. 
• If your child gets locked inside a car, dial 9-1-1 or your local emergency number immediately. 
• An open or screened window in homes can be a danger to children. Falls from upper story windows related to the heat have been responsible for fatal child injuries in our state. (TIP: Keeping furniture away from windows, opening windows from the top down if possible, and installing child-safety window guards all help to prevent injury).

For more safety tips, visit Care.com

This blog is part of Peter Liciaga's community activism effort for the Ultimate Black Belt Test Program ( http://www.ultimateblackbelttest.com/ ), which is an undertaking of The 100. ( http://www.the100.us/ ), and a part of Peter Liciaga's Dream 100 Project.

The Importance of Family Time

WPVI-TV 6ABC Co-anchor, Rick Williams "Sharing the Spotlight" with his family in Moorestown Theater Company's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (for ticket information, visit http://moorestowntheatercompany.org/ )

The importance of family time

With today's busy lifestyles, many parents and grandparents want to spend more "quality" time with their children or grandchildren. But what is quality time? "Quality time" is time spent doing an activity that is meaningful to the parent and child. It is time when family members really get to know each other. Quality time is spent focusing attention on the other person and sharing thoughts and feelings.

Spending time with our children can be fun and educational for us and for them. Much of the child's basic learning takes place in the many informal situations that occur daily in the life of the family. These informal occasions for learning include all the times the family members are together doing ordinary things, such as getting dressed, talking over the day’s happenings, dealing with problems, interacting with people outside the family, taking baths, eating, and so forth.

The activity does need not be costly, but rather one that satisfies both the parent and the child.
Children need to know they are loved unconditionally. The cry of children today is, "Love me for who I am, not what I do. Love me for being who I am, even when I am naughty, not winning, placing, and showing". That does not mean that you have to approve of everything the child does. What it does mean however, is that even though the child misbehaves, we still love and accept the child and provide support.

Community theater, karate classes, art classes, hobbies, or simply taking a walk can be quality family time.
As an education activist and a master teacher at Mount Laurels' family martial arts center, Dinoto Karate, I don't profess to have all the answers but I do hope that families are inspired by Rick Williams' example of quality family time and you are inspired towards making the most of your family's time together.

This blog is part of Peter Liciaga's community activism effort for the Ultimate Black Belt Test Program ( http://www.ultimateblackbelttest.com/ ), which is an undertaking of The 100. ( http://www.the100.us/ ), and a part of Peter Liciaga's Dream 100 Project.

Building Our Communities One Family At A Time

On Leave, soldier and Dad captures robber

An Army staff sergeant and Iraq war veteran on leave from his overseas posting is being hailed as a hero after a would-be bank robber pulled a gun on his family.

This is a great story, with a great ending, with great lessons for everyone. I will share two lessons later. Watch the following video (compliments of NBC News with Mark Potter reporting).

(NBC News)

Lesson Number One: Be Prepared to Protect your children. Our number one priority as parents is to protect our children. Parents, we must do all that we can to stay informed, knowleable and trained to move to action to protect our children. Learn and teach your children the ABC's of Personal Safety (or get a professional help by doing a Google search for Personal Safety in your town).

Lesson Number Two: Don't Panic, Stay Calm. Albeit this Dad is a trained professional soldier with 5 tours of duty in Iraq. However, the lesson here is that we parents MUST do all that we can to be prepared and ready to move to action --and the right action-- to protect our children.

This takes a calm and clear mind. The father stayed calm (by the way he moved the chairs in position to shield his children, the perception could be he did not panic).

This is a learned skill --staying "calm" and not panicking-- which can be acquired through proper training. Training ourselves to remain calm in stressful situations is key. For example, Verbal Self-defense (Verbal Judo) teaches a philosophy of how to stay calm and look creatively at conflict and use specific strategies and tactics to find (peaceful) resolutions.

Martial arts and self-defense programs, or at least the right programs (and teacher) is the key.
For me and my family, it's not an option!

As an education activist and self-defense expert, I highly recommend self-defense and martial arts! For me and my family, it's not an option. Everyone in my household MUST train in martial arts and learn self-defense!

If you do not know of a martial arts school or self-defense program in your community, please contact me at 856-235-0414 (ask for Peter Liciaga!)

Your Mount Laurel Martial Artist,
http://www.peterliciaga.org/

Happy Mother's Day from your Mount Laurel Martial Arts Family