The family that plays together stays together

Mother of four, and grandmother to three, Alison Wicks from Nowra, shares her lovely story about how a healthy and active lifestyle is the key to their family’s close bond.

“When did it all start? Well, my husband Larry came from a very physically active family. His father was a physical education teacher and he had two older brothers so they were all involved in athletics, football, surfing and cricket. My parents played tennis and I remember going for walks in the rain with my father. I didn’t do as many sporting activities as Larry’s family but I personally was very much a participant in everything.

When Larry and I got married he was training seriously for middle distance running. He bought me a push bike that could be folded and fitted in the back of a car for a wedding present which meant we could spend that time together. Not long after we were married we moved to New Zealand and one day he suggested that instead of going on the bike I should try running. That was when I was 21-years-old and I continued to run for the next 35 years. I stopped running a few years ago because I didn’t have any injuries and I thought I would quit while I was ahead. These days in place of running I ride my bike, go on regular walks and when I’m home in Nowra I go kayaking on the river.

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The whole family has always been very active together. We’ve done that from the very start. I guess our family motto has been ‘the family that plays together stays together’ and we’ve been a family for over 40 years now and we still enjoy spending time together. Interestingly, I exercised throughout each of my four pregnancies so all the children in utero were exposed to swimming, walking and stationary cycling. Even before they were born they were used to motion and moving around.

I continued to exercise after they were born. We had a four-wheel drive stroller that we would push through the bush and they also went biking in the bike carrier behind us. From a very early age they were out and about and I think they just saw regular exercise as a part of life. They used to see mum and dad exercising all the time so for them it was the normal thing to do. When our eldest son Julian was young he used to want to get dropped off a kilometre from home so he could run home! As a family we’d start the day with some sort of physical activity whether it was going for a family run or surf.

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We’ve always done things together as a family. Looking back – and I asked my family for help – we’ve competed in the City to Surf, we’ve had some fun adventure racing (which involves a bit of everything such as orienteering, kayaking and biking), they’ve been numerous fun runs over the years and we even had a go at a triathlon. When the children were young we all were very active participants in the local athletic club and cross country club participating in competitions both as individuals and together in relays. More recently we’ve been doing mountain biking and going in these 24-hour mountain bike races. It’s just taken for granted because for us it’s always been a lifestyle choice. It’s what we do and all of them go out still and have their daily bit of exercise. When our now adult children visit, they say to us: ‘Of course, we’re going to be going on the family run.’ That’s just what we do.

We’re proud that we’ve been able to produce a family with four children that are all happy, healthy and well-adjusted. What really pleases us the most is that we’re all good friends and happy to spend time together. I think it’s an indication of what doing outdoor things together can do to bring a family together. When our daughter finished school and all her friends were going to schoolies, she chose to go hiking and sky diving with her dad in New Zealand as her schoolies event. I think that was really special.

I guess reflecting back on my family the key message is a healthy active life has been a lifestyle choice. In most cases being healthy and active is not something you can expect to start doing once you get to a certain age because the body just won’t allow that to happen. If you are healthy and active throughout your life then you will be able to enjoy older life. It’s very important to us that we are able to do the same sorts of things now with our grandchildren that we did with our own children.

We currently have three grandchildren and the eldest is a little four-and-half-year-old. He has a very active mum and dad who are really into their exercise. He likes to put his jogging shoes on and pretends he has a stopwatch on. He also loves the water so we have no doubt that the four-and-a-half-year-old will turn into a very active young man. I think it is because he sees his mum and dad exercise so like our own children, it’s just taken for granted.”