Mom on a Mission

If you're at the rural Alabama home of Donna and John Richards early in the morning, you might hear a chorus of boys cheerfully announcing: "I'm back!"

Donna taught her kids to start each day with those two words. It's a way of saying that it's a brand new day and the boys are ready for action. And, when Donna Richards is your mom that's what you get.

Highly energetic and intensely optimistic, Donna handles the pressures of running a successful mobile home business with her husband and keeping their five boys physically active.

Spend a few minutes with the upbeat Donna and one question immediately springs to mind: "Is she always like this?" (By all accounts, the answer is yes.) Donna has energy to spare and she works hard to be an inspiration to her kids. She volunteers at a local orphanage, motivated by the fact that she lived in a similar facility from birth until she was adopted at age five.

Donna is also active raising awareness of autism, a neurological disorder her youngest son, Justin, 6, was diagnosed with at age 2. Donna encourages her boys to ask questions and express their frustrations. Questions about autism from 7-year-old Jace recently turned into My Brother's Keeper, a colorful hardcover book Jace wrote with his mom's help that explains autism from a kindergartener's point of view.

"Some of the boys' friends were making fun of Justin because they didn't understand his condition," Donna says. "Jace wanted to help them know better."

Donna's boys range in age from 6 to 17. She started taking her children's physical health more seriously a few years ago when her oldest son became a teenager. He was spending too much time in front of the television and put on extra weight. Since then, Donna has helped her kids get and stay active by limiting the amount of time they can watch TV and play video games. She also has come up with a variety of physical activities they can do at their house and nearby state park.

Donna has lots of ideas for keeping her kids active. She shares a few here:

Keep a schedule. Summertime is fun time but kids thrive with structure. So, even when school's out, Donna gets the boys up at the same time every day and sticks to a regular routine. Donna plans activities the boys enjoy and look forward to. For example, in the summer, every Thursday is Swimming Pool Day.

Pick an activity with a special theme. The Richards family sometimes plays "basic training" and does exercises such as push-ups and jumping jacks.

Keep the activity inexpensive. Instead of frequent trips to the movies or amusement parks, Donna arranges family hikes with imaginative touches, such as the boys carrying their lunches tied up in colorful bandannas.

Think outside and outside the box. In the summer, Donna encourages more playing outside and less sitting in front of the TV or computer. She allows no video games during the week. To encourage the kids to move it outdoors, she and her husband create an obstacle course in the backyard using items from their house, including boards and old tires. The Richards family loves to play "Treasure Map," a game they created where players dash from point to point looking for clues.

Keep it short, but keep it active. Going on long vacations can be a challenge for the Richards because of their schedules and their son's autism. Instead, the family takes several half-day trips to nearby Little River Canyon or three-day weekend visits to the beach or the mountains.