Kimatni Rawlins’ Fit Father’s Day aims to inspire fathers year-round
Kimatni Rawlins is a dad of two, a fitness trainer and founder of the Fit Fathers Foundation. Fit Fathers is a resource and nonprofit organization that helps fathers lead their families to healthier living. Fit Fathers has a national initiative that includes a video and pledge for fathers sponsored by Mazda, Volkswagen and Children’s National.
Father’s Day is a time for us to celebrate our fathers and the great men in our lives. Rawlins’ organization is looking to get fathers to commit to decisions that will not only help them on Father’s Day, but for the rest of their lives, as well. The Fit Fathers Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that educates families on nutritional and fitness awareness. Last year, the foundation started Fit Father’s Day with the idea of inspiring fathers to pay greater attention to their health as well as their families. As Father’s Day approaches as well as the second annual Fit Fathers Day celebration, rolling out spoke exclusively with Rawlins.
What was your inspiration?
We wanted to make Father’s Day pledge to help empower dads to not only think healthy for Father’s Day but going forward. We offer a few small steps. But these small steps could lead to huge impacts on someone’s health.
Tell us about your father.
Growing up, I do remember when he was around, it was all about me and my sisters. His focus was health. He was always making smoothies, stir-fry veggies … we never ate fast food.
A great foundation is key to treating your body right, and Rawlins received that from his dad.
I grew up with the mentality of what a healthy lifestyle is…he instilled that characteristic with me. When I had two daughters, that’s something that never left me.
What does fatherhood mean to you?
Fatherhood means life to me. [My daughters] manifested a totally different person within me, to what I used to live for. To wake up and see their smiling faces, that’s what I live for. My children mean life itself.
Why do you continue to be a fit father? Are you setting the same example your father set for you?
I want to make [my children] healthy and strong. I want to give them the best advantage I can, to grow physically strong and mentally healthy.
What is a popular misconception about lifestyle?
Daily exercise and fitness is only one element of the equation. You have to focus on nutrition as well. We live in an age where parents are predicted to outlive their children because of the rate of obesity. If both the mother and the father are working on this nutritional path then the child has more of an advantage of doing the same … you have to unlearn 20-30 years of a certain behavior.
What inspired the event for Father’s Day Sunday?
Here in the nation’s capital we wanted to do something massive. Father’s Day doesn’t get as much recognition as Mother’s Day but fathers are one of the Earth’s treasures.
If you are located in the Washington, D.C., area, you can join Fit Fathers Foundation and Green Bay Packers cornerback Adrian Coxson for the Fit Fathers Day Celebration, a free fitness festival empowering fathers with the necessary information to lead their families along a better health path.
For more information, visit www.FitFathersDay.com. For those who aren’t in the D.C. area, it doesn’t stop you from making a Fit Fathers Pledge, a commitment to healthier living based on diet, exercise, lifestyle, and more, and being the example you want your family to follow.
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