Family Bonding Grandfamilies Style: Family Walks

The verdict is in. Walking is a near-perfect exercise.  

Research shows that walking is quite good for physical and emotional health. It can reduce blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and stress level; recharge attention and creativity; and even improve the quality of sleep (O’Mara 2020).

Walking is a solid, healthy activity for all generations. The pace and distance of walking could be easily modified to accommodate the fitness levels and goals of walkers of all ages. Walking at a brisk pace makes for a good cardio workout and effectively complements any weight loss plan.

However, there is far more to walking than “just walking”; it is also a great way for family members to spend quality time and deepen the bonds of understanding and connection with one another. Through walking together, family members can also discover new ways to become more connected to their community.

The Relationship-Building Power of Walking Together

• “Journeying together”
• “Voyages of discovery”
• “Walking along a similar path”
• “On the road to finding each other”

These are metaphors used by Aboriginal elders in Western Australia when describing the value of walking and traveling together as a way to connect with young people who are harming themselves with drugs and alcohol. As noted by this team of researchers studying the Yiriman intergenerational project in Australia (MacCallum et al. 2006, 116):

"[Walking together] allows the young and their elders to travel on a literal and symbolic journey together sharing time, space, and the experience of community ... By its very nature, it involves animation and physical activity. This means that it is both helpful in creating and maintaining physical health and energizing relationships between the old and young." 

Why Walk with Family Members?

Family members make great “walking buddies.” As with many forms of exercise, a big challenge is to keep it up over time. Mutual encouragement and support from family members can go a long way in sustaining motivation to walk regularly.

Walking with family members can help enhance family communication, especially when you are: 

• On a relaxed family walk in a safe and familiar environment
• Away from technological distractions
• Positioned side by side (as opposed to face to face), which might help some family members, such as a withdrawn child, find it easier to share troublesome memories or worries

A challenge that many newly formed grandfamilies have is figuring out new routines and discovering family traditions.

Planning regular family walks to family-favorite sites, such as local parks, nature trails, food establishments, and movie theaters, can help reframe and deepen a shared sense of family.

Tips for Planning Meaningful and Engaging Family Walks

Make walking a regular part of your family activities.

• Plan ahead.
• Be consistent in setting time, dates, and routines for family walks.

Do it together.

• Set walking goals together (distance, speed, etc.).
• Stretch together (calves, hamstrings, etc.).
• Plan routes together.
• Cool down together.
• Track progress together.
• Keep a family walking journal.
• Research nature walks that can be squeezed in when traveling to new locations.

Be proactive in thinking about ways to stimulate and deepen family communication and activity.

• Share stories about community history.
• Pass by sites that have meaning or perhaps even sentimental value for family members.
• Stimulate conversations about possible new sites to visit, additional family activities, community volunteer opportunities, and so forth. For example, a conversation about a community garden on a favorite family walking route might spark interest in starting a family garden.

Sign up to participate in community walking events.

Look into programs such as “Everybody Walk Across Pennsylvania,” a signature event organized by Penn State Extension; visit the Everybody Walk Across Pennsylvania Program website for more information and to sign up.

It’s never too late to create meaningful family walking memories.  

It’s up to each grandfamily to create its unique walking style and story. Here’s one shared by a youth services worker in Australia (MacCallum et al. 2006, 116):

[I think of] “those beautiful moments I had with my grandma . . . alone together walking along the beach, skimming pebbles in the sea, holding hands, sharing secrets and making promises that we wouldn’t tell mum and dad.” This picture of the young and old walking side by side seems to engender in people a yearning for human encounters that are full of fun, care, respect and an experience of mutuality. 

References

MacCallum, J., D. Palmer, P. Wright, W. Cumming-Potvin, J. Northcote, M. Brooker, and C. Tero. 2006. Community Building through Intergenerational Exchange Programs. Report to the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs on behalf of the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme.

O’Mara, S. 2020. In Praise of Walking: A New Scientific Exploration. New York: W. W. Norton.

Penn State Extension Relatives as Parents Program

Many organizations and groups have emerged to support grandparents-raising-grandchildren families and help them navigate the unique set of emotional, legal, and daily living challenges they face. This program aims to expand supportive services available for Pennsylvania relative caregivers and the children they are raising, particularly in helping them find needed information and resources, locate and enroll in support groups that serve kinship care families, and engage in family-based recreational and relationship-enhancing activities. Learn more at Penn State Extension's Relatives as Parents Program (RAPP) website.