Exercise at home with young children

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axman19
axman19 Posts: 79 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I have a 5 yr old daughter and 2yr old son. I work 65-75 hours a week and spend every other last minute with them. Does anybody have any ideas for fun family exercise with your children. I'm doing this for them, but do not want to cut them short by working out while I should be with them. Im sure responses will be "there is always time to work out", but if you do not work my kind of schedule please dont post anything like that. Thanks everyone. Also, I live in MN so we are kinda restricted to being inside until march/april rolls around.

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  • cgrout78
    cgrout78 Posts: 1,679 Member
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    My kids are 5 and 8. Maybe try like a dance party? Or mine even like to follow along when i'm doing exercise videos or wii fit or something like that. They'll "play" along for a while, and then stop for a while, and they're actually really good at keeping me going because if I stop they'll yell at me. LOL.

    Other than that...hmmm. Jump rope contests or something like that maybe? We got a family Y membership so we can all go and the kids like the free swimming and the climbing wall and stuff like that.

    It is hard I know, that's one of the reasons I was so bad about going to the gym, I was already gone from my kids for 10 hours a day, I didn't want to be gone even more. Now that I can take them with me it's not so bad and they have fun too.
  • traceracer
    traceracer Posts: 303 Member
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    I love wii fit and xbox kinect. Just dance and zumba for wii are fun too for cold winter days:) We live close to the school so we go up there alot and play basketball and stuff.
  • margrobins
    margrobins Posts: 98 Member
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    I have 3 children, ages 9, 6, and 5. I know what you mean by trying to find time to workout without taking valuable time from them. My kids LOVE following workout videos with me. Right now I'm stuck with indoor exercise due to the massive amount of snow, but in the summer, they love jogging with me. They tend to think of it as a game, and when they get bored with it, they usually go off and find something else to do.

    I guess just finding things that they find amusing and still serves it's purpose for you would be my best advice. Good luck :0)
  • melitta155
    melitta155 Posts: 4 Member
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    I work 5 days a week, get home with the kids around 1630 every day just in time to try to get dinner ready. I find I'm too tired to bother with exercise after they are in bed at 1930. I usually give them a snack in front of a cartoon for 30 minutes before bathtime so I can kick it on the treadmill. I've had some success getting up earlier to exercise too, but usually in the summertime when I am not feeling so sluggish :) Good luck!
  • qtcaro
    qtcaro Posts: 48 Member
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    I have a 3 and 5 year old. Working out "with them" doesnt work here. But that being said, I do lots of dvd workouts and they are old enough for me to give them stuff to do while I work out. They either play in the game room or I set them up with crayons and drawing books or even playdo at a table nearby. Sometimes they will come over and join me for a minute or 2 but thats not all the time. Whether they join in or not I think you are being a great role model.
    If you dont want to leave them out you can always get them bundled up and take them on walks outside too. A couple of rounds around the block can be quite entertaining around this age:)
  • Steffyss
    Steffyss Posts: 9
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    My daughter does Zumba and Just Dance 3 with me! She loves it and so do I. When she gets bored I give her a coloring book or her leap pen!
  • chrissyv1024
    chrissyv1024 Posts: 97 Member
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    I have a 5 year old and find it difficult to workout with her. We do go out for walks together while she rides her razor or her stick horse. However, you said you were in MN and need something to do I'm the winter months. A few years ago I bought my daughter a Fisher price smart fit park. Its an educational toy as it is an exercise tool and you can play along with the kids as well. You just hook it up to your TV's input /put. It retails for about $38 but you can probably find one for less than that on eBay. I'd love a Wii, but I can't afford one.
  • Bullfrog2957
    Bullfrog2957 Posts: 22 Member
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    My kids are 5 and 8. Maybe try like a dance party? Or mine even like to follow along when i'm doing exercise videos or wii fit or something like that. They'll "play" along for a while, and then stop for a while, and they're actually really good at keeping me going because if I stop they'll yell at me. LOL.

    Agree! My daughter loves "playing workout videos" and frankly, when we do something like Pilates that I am not very good at, she shows me up and does it better than I can. No way I am as flexible as her.
  • KerriMx5
    KerriMx5 Posts: 569 Member
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    It is hard. I have to get up early BUT that isn't possible all days.

    My 8 year old likes to do workout videos with me. The two year old gets under my feet. I really don't think it hurts them to have you take 30 minutes to do an intense workout and then spend the rest of the time working out with them. I don't know what game systems you have but I plan on getting some more kinect or wii games we can play inside during the winter months. It is so hard to juggle it all and kiddos too.
  • MaximalLife
    MaximalLife Posts: 2,447 Member
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    I have a 5 yr old daughter and 2yr old son. I work 65-75 hours a week and spend every other last minute with them. Does anybody have any ideas for fun family exercise with your children. I'm doing this for them, but do not want to cut them short by working out while I should be with them. Im sure responses will be "there is always time to work out", but if you do not work my kind of schedule please dont post anything like that. Thanks everyone. Also, I live in MN so we are kinda restricted to being inside until march/april rolls around.
    When fitness is a priority, you find a way to make it happen no matter what.
    Here are some links to help you integrate calisthenics into your day.
    http://www.calisthenicexercise.com/
    http://fitnesstrainerstogo.com/cardio/

    As for cardio, put on some music and just dance. Dance your heart out and include your kids.

    Good luck!
  • sm423
    sm423 Posts: 210 Member
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    Just Dance on the Wii is a fun game to play. I have a 7 year old, 5 year old and an 18 month old. Although the youngest doesn't understand how to play the game. She loves music and she loves to dance. :)

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