Are Active Kids Happier Or Healthier?

This is an interesting topic subject to endless debate.

Stumbling upon the blog of journalist Mark Hyman; who regularly writes about parents, children and youth athletic activities, shed some interesting information about this issue. Hyman cites a recent study that seems to suggest while active children may be happier, they may not necessarily be healthier in life. You can learn more of the details by logging on to his blog at http://tinyurl.com/9nlclq and draw your own conclusions.

I know I can speak from my own subjective experience that my children and my family are happier as a result of athletic activities. Because the members of our family regularly participate in a variety of physical fitness activities, it brings us together in an effort toward supporting one another. In my mind, this practice has made us all closer.

The big difference maker for our family is that each of us is doing what we enjoy – no one is forced into a sport, training or physical fitness endeavor we don’t want to do. We’re each passionate about our endeavors and that passion becomes infectious in our activities to follow one another at a game, tournament or race event.

I’m certainly not naïve enough to think that some families observe our busy schedule and wonder, “How the heck do the Hrdlickas keep that up?” Sometimes we wonder that among ourselves, but I think we all recognize that supporting one another in our objectives and learning to meet goals has made us happier – and STRONGER as a family!