This week our guest blogger, Cindy Tow, mother of two, shares how her family takes advantage of neighborhood resources like the Garden on the Go truck, parks and greenways to keep her family moving.
Yesterday I was slicing a cucumber to put in a salad when my 3-year-old son asked, “Mommy, is that a cucumber or a zucchini?” I thought my job as a parent was done, my kids know about vegetables and they actually eat them too. I told him the answer and he immediately asked for some fruit snacks. I guess I still have some work to do. Luckily, we have a great resource in our neighborhood that my kids call the “fruit and vegetable truck.” It’s one of the things that give me a reason to be active and have a meaningful experience for my kids in the mean time.
Once a week, the IU Health Garden on the Go truck pulls onto Riverside Drive and gives me the opportunity to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at a reasonable price. Garden on the Go makes stops Wednesday through Saturday at various locations around Indy. Check here for their weekly schedule.
The best part about our weekly visit to the Garden on the Go truck is that my kids look forward to our outing each week because they get to pick the food right out of the bins. They can eat their selections as a snack on our way to the park. I get a brisk walk pulling the kids in their wagon, and they get to eat a piece of fruit and run around the park. This is one of the ways that we stay active and healthy as a family.
It’s not always easy to fit exercise into our busy schedule, so I look for little ways to adjust our routine that allow us all to get moving. Finding parks, libraries and other kid-friendly places that we can walk or bike to is an important way for us to keep moving. I could easily drive to the Garden on the Go truck, pick up my food and then continue my errands (which I still do on occasion), but walking there and taking the kids to the park gives us all the opportunity to exercise.
We live close to the White River Trail so we use the Indy Greenways system to go many places. We can bike to the Central Library for the kids to get their summer reading books and to the IMA’s 100 Acre park to have a picnic. I love using all of these assets in our neighborhood to our advantage. They inspire me to get out and get moving.
What assets do you have in your neighborhood that can inspire you to get moving?
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