How To Deal With Family Members Who Are Couch Potatoes
Couch Potatoes come of various varieties. There are adults who are dependent on working housemates that they just spend the whole day doing nothing else but watch the tv. There are also those teens who are on their school break who want to make up for the lost leisure time when they were attending classes. Some kids are also starting to adopt a couch potato behavior when their parents leave them at home with no other to do aside from eating and watching tv.
Regardless of the reason for being a couch potato, almost everyone will agree that this in not a healthy behavior. The person’s physical, mental and emotional growth may be affected by spending so much time as a couch potato. Here are several ways on how you can encourage your couch potato housemate to get up and do a more beneficial activity.
Encourage the person to take care of his or her health
As a couch potato, the person has probably overlooked health issues being linked to this lifestyle. While it is hard to overcome the behavior overnight, you can encourage the person to start living a health lifestyle.
You can start with encouraging the person to eat healthy foods. Your couch potato family member usually eats whatever is in the fridge and the food cabinet – junk foods, instant snacks, soda, etc. Start discussing healthy options and stuff the kitchen with healthier alternatives. Your couch potato relative will have no other choice but to reach for whatever is available. Otherwise, they have to get out of the house and shop for what they want.
Ask the couch potato to take exercise breaks
Your relative probably only takes breaks when he or she has to go to the bathroom, reach for a snack or to go to the bedroom to sleep. At times, the couch potato also does the sleeping on the couch. Anyway, aside from these breaks, tell the couch potato to stretch and take some five-minute exercises. These exercises are so simple that they can be done without taking their eyes off the screen.
Give the person some errands to do
If the couch potato is a child or a teen (or even an adult – as long as you do it the proper way), ask him or her to do some errands for you in exchange for their favorite snacks. Make sure that the errand is something that will require him or her to stretch those inactive muscles. Include activities that will encourage them to walk for about thirty minutes. This could begin a more intensive workout program for your home couch potato.
Recovering from being a couch potato is not a quick transformation. Be gentle when you motivate your relative to get up and leave the couch for another activity.
Photo Credit : oddsock
RELATED POSTS
Partner’s Alcohol Abuse – Helping your partner through alcohol abuse
Lousy Sex Partner – Working things out with an unsatisfactory sex partner
Partner’s Jealousy – Dealing with your partner’s jealousy
Date Rejection Fears – How to build courage and beat your rejection fears
Annoying Suitors – Dealing with suitors who can’t take a hint
RELATED SITES’ POSTS
Home Exercises – List of exercises you can do at home
Physical Fitness – Understanding the importance of physical fitness
Conscious Living – Guide on how not to be a couch potato
Teenage Obeisity – Tips on avoiding obeisity in teens
I think the best thing that you should do always ask them to join you on activities that you do, whether you’ll be going to buy groceries, going out on a party or just plain strolling at the park. Ask them to go with you. This would actually refrain him/her staying at home.
In this modern age, we have internet, computer, and video games that actually entices people and even children to stay at home rather than going out. This is very unhealthy since this promotes the child’s inability to mingle or associate with other people. It also causes eating disorders and lack of physical activities which is very essential for growing children / teens. How to deal with this? Encourage them to play outside or mingle with other people. Set boundaries in using video games or the computer. Set a time for them so they will be more disciplined. Enroll them in summer classes. Encourage them to develop their athletic skills so that they can have the exercise and also they can meet new people.
When eating together as a family have the time to discuss issues that involves your family. Try to share some activities you may do during the weekends, or having the Friday habit, some families have games after dinner so just to have the quality time spent with the family members. This kind of activities will also refrain couch potatoes on NOT doing anything. Try to talk to him/her and encourage him/her to join you in your activities so that he/she can change the lifestyle he/she is in now