I know so many women who try to eat right and exercise regularly but feel let down by their families.
Part of it is the stress of being a busy mom, but part of it is lack of integration of their new healthy habits with their kids.
Is it possible to involve your children in your health and fitness routine? If you can, you’ll make your efforts more productive. And you all might enjoy it together.
Here are a few tips to get the kids involved.
- Make it fun. Games and sports might be more appealing to kids than, say, going with you to the studio or a spin class. Look for regular opportunities to involve a sense of play.
- Remember competition. Kids are sometimes motivated by “beating” others or by doing better than they did previously.
- Include household activities in your group activities, like sweeping, vacuuming, putting away groceries, and working in the yard.
- Give gifts that encourage physical activity, instead of video games.
- Connect their child-care and activities schedules to your working out routine so there’s no competition or sense that they’re missing out because you want to exercise.
- Involve your co-parent, broader family, and neighbors. Can you tag-team certain obligations for help when you need to be exercising?
- Remember the power of your role modeling on them. They might not notice it now, but it will have a powerful effect on them.
It’s not always so easy to gain family support, let alone involvement. But try these simple steps to include the kids at least part of the time. The mentality of “we’re in this together” will pay off in all kinds of ways.
