My great friend and personal trainer, Jen, of Getting Fit With Jen, has said it to me time and again: “Sometimes, working in time to exercise can be as easy as getting up and playing with your kids.”
The statement makes perfect sense and ultimately, I agree. But I also have to say that doing this has often been a struggle for me. I’ll admit that I don’t often just stop and “play”. There is work to be done!!! Often, I find that the best time to get that work done is when my kids are off happily playing…on their own. Happily playing children means that I have a moment of peace to focus on other tasks. To take the time to stop my cooking, laundry, website work, house work – and instead go play with my kids? It almost feels as if I would put myself behind in some way. That I would be more stressed out because of the growing “to-do” list that didn’t get finished.
All of that may be true sometimes. There is nothing wrong with taking advantage of quiet moments and content children when there is work to be done. But – I promise you that I have never, ever regretted time I have taken out of my “very busy schedule” to go play with my kids. And when that play involves some sort of exercise? Well, I do believe we can call that multi-tasking. :)
Remember the day I scored five!!?!?!? (Why yes, I did just give you the link to that post so that I could brag some more in case you forgot that story.) It was a great workout, and wow did we all have fun! A few days after that, while waiting for our seven year old to warm up for his soccer game, I headed over and kicked a ball around with our 10 year old. You should have seen his face light up once he saw me and recognized that I was there to play with him!! Golden. Never will I regret taking advantage of opportunities like this to play with my kids.
Remember how my kids were doing this:
And then they talked me into doing this:
I loved every minute of that – and so did my kids!
Jen is right. Now that I’m being more intentional about being active with my kids, I’m finding that there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy spending time with them in this way. And lo and behold – all of my other work still gets done somehow. ;) After playing, I get right back to the house work or computer work – this time full of extra energy because I’ve just been up moving around!
Here are some specifics Jen had to share on this topic:
Anything that involves moving for several minutes at a time will increase your heart rate and be beneficial for your health. Go outside with your kids. Kick a ball around, chase them, play some sort of tag, play catch, go for a walk or bike ride – the ideas are limitless. Your kids will love this time with you and you will be burning calories, building muscle, and increasing your endurance level.
Do recognize your limitations so that you don’t injure yourself. Don’t break into a full on sprint to chase your kids if you aren’t used to running. Pace yourself, maybe taking short breaks between play times. Remember, even 10-15 minute segments of activity will be good for your body.
Your example to them will encourage them to want to be fit as well. Get out there and be active with your kids!
Be sure to visit Getting Fit With Jen to learn more about how you can make fitness a part of your life.
We are doing a Fun run to start our school day each day… We have breakfast and go do our quiet times and then we go for a 1 mile run together…. We do Indian sprints to keep it fun and this also helps to keep everyone together…. so we do not get to spread out.. I have 4 kids 7, 8, 9, and 10… We also have a trampoline… And we do love to all jump on that as well!… Such FUN….
Amen!
We got active with out kiddos this week. We pulled out the slip and slide! Oh I was hurting afterwards!!! But it was tons of fun!!
You are so stinkin’ cute on that trampoline! You crack me up. I love it! Kids love when their mamas are active with them!
My kids are 21 to 32 and they do not want to go outside and play anymore but there are always the grandchildren! They love to go outside with Nana :)
I actually try to exercise without my kids. It is one of the few things I do just for myself. Sure, we run around and play, but it is too tempting to say, yeah we jumped for 10 min that was my exercise for the day, and really I need to do more like an hour of concentrated exercise a day at my weight to be healthy. So I take time for myself away from my children to exercise alone, so I make sure I do what I need to for my body so I can be the mom they need me to be.
One of the best things i read all week. thank you
This comment has nothing to do with getting fit with kids (although I did jump on the trampoline today with my 3 year old!). :)
I made a birthday brunch for my mom today and all the things I made were from your recipes, Laura! We had breakfast casserole (with sausage and bell pepper), oatmeal cups (some with chocolate chips and some with apples), and homemade hashbrowns!! We all loved it all!!
I also find that when I give my kids that kind of attention they are far more willing to give me a few minutes of time to “get things done.” Just an added bonus!
Feeling convicted. I really need to apply this!
I played a game of tag last night with my 9 year old and was exhausted afterwards. We ran like crazy! Great exercise.