Help Kids Be Fit

Read time: 6 minutes

Updated: February 23rd, 2021

An interview with Daniel P. Huerta, Focus on the Family’s Vice President of Parenting and Youth, by Brad Bloom

CONTRIBUTE, ENCOURAGE, INFLUENCE

When people think and talk about fitness they usually think of either fitness for women or fitness for men. But from a faith-centered perspective fitness is so much more. That’s why its important for you to understand how to do FAMILY FITNESS – where children, youth, young adults, parents and grandparents all exercise together.

That’s why I’m so pleased to have had a conversation with Daniel P. Huerta. Daniel is the Vice President of Parenting and Youth at Focus on the Family. In our conversation we venture into a more thorough examination of chapter 1 in his book, Seven Traits Of Effective Parenting. That chapter is about contributors, encouragers, and influencers.

I regularly hear from Faith & Fitness Magazine readers about how they really embrace and commit to a key concept of faith-centered fitness – being others-minded. They know it’s good to be stronger, healthier, feel better, move more and live longer. They know more importantly that their physical fitness and even the lifestyle of building that fitness must be mindful, engaging and strengthening of others. That’s why they invite a neighbor to join them for walks, do group exercise with a co-worker, cook a healthy meal with another church family or include a disabled member of their community in a recreational event or competition. They DO fitness with others.

Daniel’s chapter on Contributors, Encouragers and Influencers is great wisdom for parents. But – I believe that Faith & Fitness Magazine families can get even more out of it — a compelling challenge to train children now in ways that they AS CHILDREN AND TEENS can be contributors, encouragers and influencers among their piers and even among adults.

When we do family fitness this way we transform play, exercise, work, meals and relationships and help kids be fit to see opportunities for listening, caring and serving others. By the time their adults they not only have healthy fit bodies but they’ll have an incredibly strong Christian worldview that will transform generations.

Listen to this conversation with Daniel P. Huerta about his book Seven Traits Of Effective Parenting and how to help kids be fit to contribute, encourage and influence. [time 27:33]

SEVEN TRAITS OF EFFECTIVE PARENTING

Excerpts from 7 Traits of Effective Parenting by Danny Huerta, a Focus on the Family book published by Tyndale House Publishers. Copyright © 2020, Focus on the Family. All rights reserved. Excerpted with permission.

In the chapter titled Contributors, Encouragers and Influencers, Huerta relates personal experiences that have shaped his understanding of these three spiritually fit attributes. Here are some excerpts from that chapter.

CONTRIBUTORS

In a recent survey, 49 percent of teens said they post about their own accomplishments on social media. Teens are thirsty to be known and recognized. In addition, in a different survey, 45 percent of teens said they are stressed all the time. Teens need encouragement and help coping with demands and expectations they feel incapable of living up to or fulfilling.

You can help counter these influences by sincerely contributing to the lives of the kids you know. Help kids find genuine encouragement rather than needing to seek it out. Through your own example, teach them to be noticers and celebrators of other people’s accomplishments, skills, and talents. Looking beyond “self” helps to reduce stress. Help children be noticers of:

people who are thirsty for God’s love and hope
people who are orphaned or widowed
people who need encouragement or a listening ear

Your positive example in this area can help kids discern where to invest their own time, attention, skills, and energy. This helps to build a contributor mindset in your children.

ENCOURAGERS

Encouraging words are always welcome! Why don’t we offer them more often? My wife has sometimes said to me that she wants more encouraging words from me. It is so easy to forget to consistently speak encouraging words to my wife and my children.

All I can say is that it is good that we get a new day every twenty-four hours so I can try again. It is like God built a reset button into each day. His mercies are new every morning! Go ahead and press your own reset button today.

JOURNAL NOTES – My teenage son and daughter enjoy getting notes. We each have a journal at our spot on the kitchen table. Anyone can write in anyone else’s journal. I frequently will write a note or a quotation or draw something for my kids and my wife (though not every day). The notes don’t have to be long. My son, daughter, and wife all love words of encouragement that are genuine and authentic. We all treasure these journals as we record encouraging words to one another throughout the year.

INFLUENCERS

The summer of 1983 was a challenging but powerful time in my life. I spent the summer with my English-speaking grandparents, uncle, and aunts in Minnesota while my parents moved to Colorado Springs with my older brother and sister. I couldn’t really understand what people were saying and learned to listen carefully that summer. I watched as my grandparents knelt beside their bed together and prayed for people individually and by name. I remember them kneeling for a long time each time they prayed. Similarly, my parents faithfully prayed together before bed. I could hear them praying as I fell asleep across the hall. The examples of my grandparents and parents had a profound influence on my life. Today, prayer is a centerpiece in my home.

That summer, my grandpa taught me about gardening and loving God. My grandma loved the kitchen and served the family faithfully. There was no dishwasher, so we each had a responsibility. My time in Minnesota helped me learn how to help in the kitchen and with everyday chores. My grandparents had a direct and lasting influence on my life.

You will have a lasting influence in your child’s life. But what kind of impact will you leave? I strongly believe that parents who grow in the seven traits of effective parenting will have a profoundly positive influence in their children’s lives. Parenting is about contributing, encouraging, and influencing and not about being perfect.

Based on exhaustive research, Huerta presents a collection of seven powerful character traits designed to help parents grow and thrive as they take on the task of raising children. Parents will be encouraged to navigate family life with grace and love so their children ultimately see God’s transformative power, love, and influence.