Question:
Exerciseing with small children, any ideas?
I love exercising, I have a treadmill & a bowflex. Both great machines. My problem is I'm having a really hard time finding the time to exercise with 3 small kids, 6, 4 & 2. I've tried to get up early & exercise before the kids get up but sometimes my 2 year old doesn't sleep well so I end being too tired to get up. I've also tired to exercise when my husband gets home from work, he watches the kids & it works great but his schedule is crazy so I can't always depend on him to be home. Another thing I've tried is to let the kids play around me while I'm getting my exercise done. It worked ok but I find that I have to get on & off the treadmill to chase my 2 year old. As you can see I've tried just about everything. I know how important exercise is & I really enjoy the time to myself. I also feel like exercise should be a scheduled so you get used to doing it everyday. So how do the rest of you work around it with small children? Thanks for any advice — Stephanie M. (posted on June 30, 2003)
June 29, 2003
Maybe you can give them "video time" Each excersize day, pop in
a video they can sit down and watch (put VCR is same room as your excersize
equipment)...and do a reward system, if they sit and watch the entire
video, or 45 mins of it, they get a treat after it is over. Make them
some chocolate milk and cookies while you have a protein shake. The older
kids will help to keep the 2 year old in line, especcially if they are
promised a treat. Hope it helps!5
— thekatinthehat
June 29, 2003
Just a wild thought since I read you like your alone time--but why not
consider getting an exercise tape that has fun music and everyone exercise
together? When the 2 year old gets rambunctious, pick him or her up and do
a few kiddie reps (I like doing "Russell Reps" with my Jack
Russell terrier hanging on by his teeth to a plastic water jug--saves me
from breaking a leg tripping over him sometimes). JUST a thought...also,
now that it is summer, you may be able to recruit a local older child (or
more than one) to come over for an hour or hour and a half while you are
home to entertain the kids while you work out. You will be home, and some
ten or eleven year old boy or girl will get some semi-supervised job
experience and a few bucks. Good luck and hope you find a solution.
Peace---terry
— Terry R.
June 30, 2003
How about hiring a neighborhood teen to watch your kids for you when your
husband can't or you can't do it in the morning?
— Yolanda J.
June 30, 2003
I am a stay-home mom with a 3 year old, and I too found exercising with her
a challenge! All of these suggestions are great. My husband and I just
joined our local YMCA. It is a brand new one, has a really great gym, and
right across from the gym is child-care center for you to drop your kiddos
at while you workout! The family membership is only $49 per month (here in
Mansfield)...They also have a indoor heated pool, and after we workout we
take our daughter in there for a swim..It makes it fun for her too! Just a
suggestion...I think most YMCA's have this same set up...Good luck to you!
— Jessica P.
June 30, 2003
I have brought mine top a local playground and let them play while I do
laps around the playground. Tiny laps yes but the minutes walked are the
same either way. I can see them the whole time and they are thrilled to
play without me bugging them!
— Carol S.
June 30, 2003
I have the same problem. My three children are ages 3,4 and 5. I've just
learned to do it when they sleep or I do activities with them. We walk to
the park and then I play with them and even when we go to Chuck E Cheese,
Carnivals, ect....I always play too, I actually crawl through the tubes,
slide, swing and I'm a big kid now lol. I dance to the radio, teach them
hustles and songs like chicken dance, anything that keeps them active and
me burning calories, also try TABOE JUNIOR....my kids and I love doing that
tape. Hope this helps some, Good luck!
— Sandy M.
June 30, 2003
GREAT QUESTION. I have the same one, LOL! I see that you already got a
lot of good suggestions. My two are 2 & 4 and what I do for excersize
is walk to work, with them in the stroller and drop them off at daycare.
This has been great. I have a hard time working out at home. What has
worked for me is having my husband watch them if I do a tape with a lot of
"props" like weights and a step, but I've also picked a few pure
cardio tapes - like Donna Richardson's Old School Dance Party - where I can
work out and let the kids run around and play and try and do the tape with
me. I also try to ride my husbands excersize bike but like you, I have to
keep jumping off to deal with the little one. Having them watch a video
also helps, but it has to be one that's more interesting than mom jumping
around, otherwise they come and annoy me instead of watching their movie
;-)
Oh, and I too want to have a set time to work out, but just like all parts
of my life - with kids you have to be flexible. When I kind of let go of
that and resigned myself to working with their schedules, it helped me deal
with it a little better. The downside is that sometimes things don't work
out how you planned.
I like the playground laps idea! I will have to try that.
Good luck!
— w8free
June 30, 2003
Hey! Get the book on Pilates and do those exercises in shallow water with
your kids!! I don't have kids, but my friends kids always want to go
swimming, and she doesn't, so I take them and keep them occupied and get
some great exercises in at the same time! :~) The kids love it... they get
to splash and splash and splash!! LOL!! I get to splash and splash and
splash as well as get one heck of a work out...especially on those abs that
really need toning... I am actually seeing ab muscles for the first time in
my life!!!!
— Sharon M. B.
June 30, 2003
My kids are 6 and 3...We take walks, go to the pool, or all three of us do
a yoga tape together. For me, a set time each day didnt work. It caused
more frustration than anything. As long as you are more active, it really
doesnt matter what you do. My kids love 'exploring'. Before we leave the
house we make a list of things to find...then set out treasure hunting. It
gives them something to do on our walks. I'm getting excersize, they are
on a treasure hunt. We live in florida, where it has been raining
constantly...we wait until it starts raining really hard...then set out to
find puddles. Another walk for me, more fun for them. They love yoga, (so
do i), but it does get challenging with the little one that wants to crawl
under mommys legs. lol...and what kid doesnt love the pool. Just find
things that make you more active...excersize doesnt have to be aerobics.
:)
— RebeccaP
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