It is important for your whole family to practice healthy lifestyle choices, which includes daily physical activity. There are a few different things you can do to promote daily exercise within your household.

Many kids, teenagers, and adults are inspired by the chance to show off their skills and prove their high level of talent. This competitive nature can turn regular walks around the neighborhood into full on races and backyard ball-tossing into full-fledged games with score-keeping.

You can make a dance party into a talent show competition with points awarded for the best moves. You can challenge your family to get moving by challenging who can take the most steps in a day, do the most push-ups, or twist into the most complicated yoga pose.

You may be surprised by who is the most competitive and aggressive with the games. Keep in mind the personalities and make sure that someone in your family is not sensitive to the term “losing.”

Make fitness fun by turning it into a chance to go crazy and laugh. If you are dancing, go all out with crazy costumes and crazier moves.

If you are taking a family walk, tell jokes or sing goofy songs as you go. If you take an aerobics class, do not be afraid to laugh it off if you look silly doing certain poses or moves.

Make up a family cheer and perform it whenever someone achieves a fitness-related goal like running their fastest mile or wins their basketball game. If your family is not really into that kind of thing then make it a point to celebrate those little victories by going out for frozen yogurt or taking the family out to the batting cages for a night of fun.

Keep in mind that the family should be celebrating the ten pounds dad lost and the softball game the kids won at the park. Make it fun for everyone so that every individual in the family feels involved and excited about fitness.

As a family, choose a new sport and learn it together. Activities like martial arts, horseback riding, and dance are especially well-suited to varying ages and skill levels.

You can also teach each other your favorite fitness activities like yoga or baseball. Kids love to reverse roles and be the instructor so allow them to teach the family a new game every once in a while.

Many people find than adopting a dog is a great way to make sure that the family stays active together. With a dog you can take it to the park to run around with the kids, play fetch with the Frisbee, and go for family jogs or bike rides together with the dog on the leash.

Dogs need a lot of space to run around, so you have to get them out of the back yard often, which encourages the entire family to take the dog out for an evening walk. Another great thing to do is get involved with charity runs.

This is a great way to teach the family about the importance of giving back to their community. Things like car washes and benefit walks and runs are great ways to be active for a good cause.

You can also do things like going to your local swimming pool, going biking, sledding, skiing, or bowling. All are fun things that people of all ages can enjoy together.

You can also make your own team that competes with other families in your neighborhood. You can get the community involved in softball games in the park and obstacle courses in different backyards.

Make sure you mix things up and expose your kids to a variety of different activities so they can have experience in everything they can. This will also help them find something that they really love.

Even video games like the Wii and the Xbox Kinect allow families to be active indoors. These can be great ways to mix things up, get everyone involved, and still meet your daily exercise requirements.