Need parenting advise

get a wagon and pull her along the trails with you and if she wants she can get out and walk for a while but kids generally enjoy wagon rides

That's tough... try some other things that kids typically like to do such as jumping rope, trampoline, playing tag, hop scotch...
Maybe teach her how to roller blade
You have to be creative with kids. GOOD LUCK!!!

I'm sorry I don't have the answer for you. I just wanted you to know that you're not the only one in that boat though. I have a 9 yr old son and it is hard to juggle work, working out and spending enought time with him. He is also a little on the heavy side and I worry about his future health wise.

A few suggestion I may make would be to make a game of it. Maybe race her, you walk/running & her on her bike, to different locations. Also you incorporate exercise into a game of Simon Says........Simon says jump rope for 1 min, run in place, 10 burpees (an exercise I recently learned), 15 jumping jacks. I think as long as you're having fun with it and it seems like a game to her, she may be more agreeable to do it.

I am also a single mother but I have 3 children and I have the same problems ...I have tried changing up the excercise that I do to spend time with them and also keep them active. Some days we go for a walk, others they ride their bikes and I run because I don't own a bike and then some days I convince them to let me kick their butts on just dance or wii fit on the wii. They do complain and cry from time to time that they are tired or they don't want to do it and I get angry with them too even though I know I shouldnt because I want them to enjoy these things and not think of them as something they hate. Maybe try making a bike ride to the park and letting her play for a bit and see if she enjoys that a little better that works for my kids on the days they tell me they don't want to walk with me.

Do they have a pool at your Y, do a parent child swim class. You would both benefit from the time together, the exercise and her learning that exercise is an important part of life. I have 2 children of my own 3 & 5 1/2 I know it is all but impossible to workout when they are around. I do a lot of circuit training video's at nite after bedtime. Hope that helps and Good Luck

How much are you making her ride so you get a work out? She is just a young child and if you are trying to go for long rides, it is probably too much for her.

Was she compalining about not getting enough time with you or is it mother guilts kicking in? She actually may enjoy her time at the day care at the Y.

At 4, she is kind of young to put all your hang ups about weight gain and diet on her. Make sure that you aren't sending her the wrong message and let her know that you love her just the way she is. If you provide healthy fiid at home and an atmosphere where moving your body ( dancing, walking, playing) is fun, she probably won't end up with a weight problem

Hiya :flowerforyou:

I have a six year old girl and a four year old boy so I understand what you are experiencing.

I like to walk - I walk any and everywhere, for miles upon miles. During the school holidays I can't do this and it effects my mood. I still take my kids for walks but it's really not a workout because they go a much slower pace than me and can't walk so far (although because of my love for walking they walk a looong way further than most of their friends!). I take walks in the evenings during the school holidays when my husband is home. I run the errands I can, and I find other ways of exercising. Then, when they are back at school during term time I get the walk all over the place again.

All I can say is that the bike rides with her are not for you to work out. Your working out and her learning good habits, are, in this situation, separate things. It's no fun for her to go at any pace that would give you a workout. She wants to stop frequently, look at the things she is seeing, talk to you (endlessly talk to you, over and over, about her dolls, what she's been doing at kindergarten, what she likes about her puppy, her favourite toys, her friends, **everything**).

Give her this time and you will have done your job. She will grow up experiencing 'exercising' as a fun thing to do. You won't get a workout from it - and it sounds like you can get that, with added childcare, at the YMCA - so you might need to sacrifice a workout session to give this to her.

If you want something you can experience together and instill good habits try new healthy foods together, read books together, plant some seeds and learn how to grow your own fruit, veg and herbs together. But exercising, sadly, isn't something you can do together because you both have different aims from it. You want a good burn, she wants some fun and you are much bigger than her so she can't keep up!

Take care,

I have a 4 year old little girl as well and she is a handful. Sometimes I have to tell myself ok she is only 4. When your little one is acting up like this I would suggest getting down to her level ( squat, kneel, bend over) and make eye contact with her. Then say (your daughters name) why are you crying? If her response is nothing then say well sweetheart if nothing is wrong why are you upset. It's ok if your legs hurt mommy's legs hurt too. Let's finish this little walk that will make us big and strong and we can go play something more fun together. If that doesn't work then maybe look into buying a workout dvd. They have all kinds. Heck my 4 year old dances with me now when I put that paticular one on. So get your little one invloved as much as you can. Act silly, take a breather when she is acting like a little monster and remind yourself she is only 4. Also if you are worried about not picking up healthy eating habbits. Don't keep unhealthy food in the house. I am not saying never eat it just make it to where you have to go out of your way to get it. Also teach her about all the foods and maybe even get her in there with you in the kitchen.

My daughter and I try to spend a little time being active together before my gym time. We will take a leisure bike ride or walk around our park. This way we both feel like we have time together and I can still go get a real workout. It works for for really well, but then again, she's 8 not 4.

Good luck to you! 4 year olds aren't easy!

wo I totally understand How you feel and like some people have already said " you do need that time for yourself to workout first in order to be patient with your daughter while your spending time with her"...I am also a single mom and noticed a while back that I was getting impatient with my son if I didnt get my workout done, im not sure why but I hear alot of mothers go through this. Us mothers do alot and even though you may think its being selfish to want to spend time at the gym ITS NOT, your kids will actually probably really love you for it because in the long run you will be in shape and be confident to try new things with them and have soo much more energy and they will love playing with you when you get home from the gym. I go to the local YMCA as well. you dont need to go for 2 hrs that seems very long, all you need is a good hr a day maybe 4 times a week, then the other 3 days like for example Friday Saturday and Sunday, just go to the gym for 30min and pump the speed and intensity up on the treadmil (you can actually burn soo many cals in 30min depending how hard you push) things I do with my son on the days I dont go to the gym is I take him to a park or walk around streets by my house where they have small hills and push him in the stroller, or another one is I have one of those trailers to attach to my bike and I pull my son in that, oh man hes like 49lbs so thats one heck of a workout...chase after your kids, act like a kid, just go fro walks and pull in wagon or stroller, anything is good, jumprope is great too. Have you ever thought of getting a workout dvd and doing it in the morning before work? I hate morning but if you really want something you will do it. If you could somehow do a 30-40min workout in the a.m. then when you get off work all your time can be with the kiddos and you can go on about your day knowing you atleast did your workout dvd already:) Ive done 30day shred and right now Im doing Slim In 6, they work!!! Just dont feel bad taking an hr of time for yourself cuz they need a healthy mother, your doing this for them too dont forget. Best of luck to ya

I'm a single mom too, so I get where you are coming from. I agree that these are times you can't count as a workout. Maybe do 1 hour at the Y and the second hour with her. Or, sign her up for a class at the Y, like dance or something. They always have something going on.

When my daughter was that young, we didn't bike ride. Her little legs just can't keep up. Sometimes I would let her ride, and I would walk. It was easier for us to keep the same pace and that way I did burn some cals.

Another thing we did was ALOT of walking. Every day after dinner we walk. From the time she was in a stroller till now. She expects it and its our time together. To keep her interested while we were walking we played games like I Spy or the letter game. Plus I made up a game- We take turns making I AM statements. They all have to be positive, like, "I AM beautiful." We also did "I am thankful for...." It made the walk go by faster, triggered positive thinking in her own mind, and it was great bonding. She's 11 now and still likes to do that when we walk. It instills positive thinking about self image without directly talking about negativity.

Other options you could use are doing parks on the weekends, playing tag, hide and seek, racing on foot or on bike (Make sure you let her win a few, lol), mommy and me classes.......

"Never make eye contact while eating a banana." Ha! I love it!!!!! :laugh: