Share your top tips for getting the whole family to embrace a healthier lifestyle with Disney’s #HealthilyEverAfter campaign - £300 Disney store voucher to be won- NOW CLOSED

[RebeccaEMumsnet]

As part of the Disney Healthy Living campaign, this week Disney are launching their new #HealthilyEverAfter week. They’d love to hear about what your top tips are for encouraging your family to embrace a healthy lifestyle.

Here’s what Disney says “We know parents can find it a challenge to ensure their children are eating well and being active - and when they are trying to get their whole family to develop good habits, we believe Disney can help make it fun and simple. The #HealthilyEverAfter campaign uses the power of our stories and characters to inspire these behaviours and encourage parents to share their tips with other families around the UK”

So, how do you encourage your family to embrace a healthier lifestyle? Maybe you’ve created some fun games to get your DCs to keep active? Or perhaps you try to make sure your children are getting a balanced diet and try new foods? Whatever you do to encourage your family to be healthy Disney would love to hear about it.

For more information on the Disney Healthily Ever After campaign and how can you use Disney as inspiration to encourage your family to be healthy, take a look at the video below:

Please note: Disney may well use your anonymous comments on their website, on social media as well as possibly elsewhere.

Everyone who adds a comment will be entered in to a prize draw where one winner will receive a £300 Disney Store voucher.

Thanks & good luck,
MNHQ

Turn off the tv (and the tablet) and go outside with the kids. erm....

It's important to do FUN activities as a family. Whether it's running around in the park playing 'It' or playing a game of football. As long as you all are having fun, nobody even realises it's all part of being healthy and fit too! We also involve kids in our cooking too, the four-year-old can cut the veg ready for steaming (obvs, with some guidance!) and the older kids are a good help in peeling potatoes for example. Anything you do as a FAMILY has a profound effect on every family member's health!

I always eat with my children, as an example of how to eat healthy. We walk together and I tell them the car is asleep.

We cook together so that the children can see what wonderful foods go into our sauces, the different smells and colours are so enticing for a toddler.

I do the food shop so they don't get too involved with what we have to eat! I also do home delivery in school holidays so they can't try and scam me out of loads of unhealthy treats.
We mostly go for walks as a family to get some exercise but the eldest boys have swimming lassons and cross country too.

i told DDs the tv was broken ...took the fuse out of plug, and the wifi was 'down'...took 2 weeks to get them ummm 'fixed' .

in that 2 weeks we got into routine ( firstly out of bordem ) of walking dog every day, making our own bread, and playing lots of games in the garden...and now this is just normal stuff for us

we go to the shops and buy nice fruit just like others would go and buy sweets, then the children really enjoy eating it! To be active, just get out of the house.... being out and about makes us all active!

I sit at a desk for 8 hours a day and must admit that I struggle with a healthy lifestyle. I try to replace sugary snacks with fruit, but when one of the office girls brings in cakes - i find it hard to resist!

We make packed lunches to prevent the temptation of calorific canteen food, I walk into town on my breaks to get a bit of exercise (and only sometimes buy cakes from Greggs) and we all drink a lot of water. We have two dogs so mornings and evenings include a local dog walk and at weekends we go farther afield, for both exercise and fresh air. I've also discovered through slimming forums several low cal treats (yogurts, puddings, frozen) that suit us all.

Lead busy example, and always having a fruit bowl that all the family can access

I started to grow our own fruit and veg a few years ago and got the children involved. They help to plant them and tend them as they grow. When they're ready they harvest them and go into the kitchen to help prepare and cook them. I find that they eat more of them because they've done so much to them. The brighter, colourful fruit and veg go down very well, especially in their smoothies which they choose what to put in them. They seem to eat more as the taste is so different, - so fresh, unlike supermarket produce. We live in the country so get lots of exercise exploring fields and hedgerows and getting plenty of fresh air as well as a good night's sleep.

We count steps (try to beat our last walk) and have stretches where we all do a certain type of step like hopping or striding to make it more interesting

We talk about food with our children teaching them about sources of protein, carbohydrates, fats, sugars etc and about what balance our bodies need and how our bodies are affected by different foods. We give them simple tasks to get involved with the cooking and most of our meals are cooked from scratch. They love cosmic kids yoga which is good exercise and has some really great stories to keep them engaged.

luckily my boys love the sea- canoeing, swimming, surfing, all good exercise and out in the fresh air

luckily my boys love the sea- canoeing, swimming, surfing, all good exercise and out in the fresh air

Lead by example. If the children see you active and eating healthily it will seem normal. Encourage them to join in by making it seem fun rather than an obligation. An element of competition always helps eg most steps on the pedometer in a day

Moved out of the city and head for the great outdoors whenever possible!

Mine are older and have varying views on what's OK exercise wise.... DS1 and DS2 love sport and will do anything... DS3 has found his puppy fat and has to be removed from the sofa with a crow bar!
We try and lead by example. I have weight issues linked to steroids and having a tumour (it's 3 stone) but I have a step Thing on my phone and I try and do my steps every day....
My boys are competitive so will try anything... I prefer outdoorsy holidays eg centre parcs as there is lots to do.
If they want to try something I will take them eg five a side.
For us ita just about building it in. Even if it's just a walk to the garage to get milk..

Rewards like gadget time and DVDs follow exercise. So drag them on big walks up the hill. Do active holidays like skiing.

We live quite rurally so after dinner, we go for a walk in the fields, we get our wellies on and take a ball. I'm permanently exhausted from this! ..but the DC's really love it and look forward to it AND they sleep better in the evening too. I call fruit and veg snacks 'energy food' so they feel they're making more energy for their run arounds. It's working well but I can't wait for the Summer, it'll be so much nicer!

I've embraced a healthier lifestyle myself by joining Slimming World and losing 3 stone. The positive effect this has had on my family has been amazing. I've always cooked from scratch right from weaning my children, but I make healthier choices such as using leaner meat, organic produce, etc. The children are offered fruit as snacks, but still have the odd treat as a... well... treat!

remove all junk food from house and replace with healthly snacks

Buy good quality juice to drink and teach your 6 year old to have PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) - he walks places beating his chest chanting PMA!

I'm trying to get my older kids more involved in the preparing of their dinner at the weekends in the hope that it will be encourage them to eat better.

The family that plays together, stays (healthy) together!

The key is to keep involved in each other's activities. Putting your child in a class while you play with a smart-phone has it's place, but if that's all you do, you're missing out on one of the best personal trainers you could have.
Walking, Cycling, jogging and swimming are all easy to arrange. Teaching (or learning together) a racquet sport is a great thing to do.

The main thing is to be patient, have fun and enjoy cheering each other on.

Leading by example. DH and I try to stay active and make sure that we always encourage participation in sports. Weekends usually involve running around in the park or woods. When DS is older we hope to go on active holidays too.

I think it's harder than ever before to encourage kids to get enough exercise, especially in winter. Mine are more concerned with spending time on their devices. We also find that our kids hate P.E. at school!

However, they love taking part in other activities, such as martial arts and swimming, so we try to do those things as much as possible. We also spend as much time as we can chasing the dog around in the park, or jsut going for long walks.

As for food, we don't tend to stress too much about it. We teach them that some foods are healthier than others and try to give them more of those. They do also get occasional burgers and sweets etc, as we don't want to make them into forbidden (and therefore more desirable) treats.