mommy guilt

An hour or two a day away from your daughter is not going to make or break your relationship with her or stunt her development. The fact is, you're doing her a favor by taking the time to work out. You're giving her years of a healthier mommy. You'll be able to do more with her, and keep up with her when you do it.

I'm also a mommy, and I practice attachment parenting (albeit a modified version,) I really sometimes think that the only reason my kids are still alive is that hour or two a day that I take out for myself.

Keep it up. It's good for you and her, too.

How old is your daughter? I used to have guilt all the time about doing just about anything that wasn't with my daughter. Funny thing is, after spending so much time doing things with her she really doesn't remember any of it! I wish I would have given myself a break those years before school started!

I have had some guilt but I've realized its really not a good thing. It's better for them and me if I work out and be that positve role model. When my girls were little, yes, I did exercise and it felt like I was sneaking time away from them. Then I started working out during their activity time or making it family time. When my son was little, my rec center had a place where he could go and be active (climbing jungle gym for him) while I worked out. Now he's too old for it so he sits and reads while I spin as those are very early morning classes on the weekends. We keep trying him on the bikes and he can't wait until he's tall enough to join class too. But my other class - he can't until he's 14 (that's 5 years away). So he goes and plays basketball or climbs on the climbing wall or he sits and reads. But he's also in Karate for two nights a week. He's a leader for the first class so I tend to work out during that class and watch/help lead in his class. Then we have the adult class and we do HIIT after that and he joins in the HIIT session too. I've learned over time, that my kids need to know I value the time they spend physically active as much as I value the time we spend going to a movie or a free day at the museum or hanging out at home. So my mommy guilt doesn't exist anymore.

You don't say where you workout. I know when my kids were little, they used to love going to the playroom in the gym while I worked out. They used to beg to go instead of just staying home. That eased my guilt a lot.

I have had guilt. But, I sometimes go in the morning, so as to least impact my time away since my kids are usually still sleeping. I also usually go on my lunch break at work, so that does not impact them at all. And, I have found that when I exercise I feel better, so I feel more like actually doing something with them when I get home. Now, I don't feel guilty. I feel like me exercising is a win/win situation. I get to exercise, they get a happier more active Mommy!

Yes. I am dealing with the same thing. I have been missing bedtime for my son so I can make it to yoga. But, there really is NO other time I can make it since I commute and work full-time. But, the guilt just never goes away.

My daughter is three and she's such a good sport when I work out. I try to involve her. I mainly do workouts at home (step aerobics, Jillian Michaels DVD's etc.)

I do them in the living room and my daughter does them too. Well, she marches in place and just jumps around and feels like she's exercising. It's a lot of fun to bring her into it with me. I even let her use my resistance band, she plays with that and has a lot of fun while I really exercise.

I feel good because she's growiing up seeing me exercise daily and I hope it'll rub off on her to continue.

Maybe that's something you can do?

I do feel guilty when my kids are awake and I spend that time working out, especially during the week when I also work and come home to take care of them and maintain the house. On a weekend I don't mind becuase it's 1 hour of the day that they can stay with dad while I run downstairs and bang out my weights. I usually wait for them to go to bed then I sneak downstairs for mommy time. If I am home with them during the day I will get a walk in with them or play outside and count those steps toward my exercise. It sucks but sometimes I think we need to put our families aside and take care of us first. As moms we are to giving and forget about ourselves.

I only work out at home, usually before they wake up in the morning. There is no way I could get to a gym and get a decent work out in. I also like working out at home. I work full time too, so I don't want to be gone from them anymore than I have to!