Exercise with kids?

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schavarry
schavarry Posts: 18
in Fitness and Exercise
For those of you with kids who aren't school age yet - how do you exercise with them around? My daughter is 4 and she's either complaining because she doesn't want to watch my work out videos on the tv, or because she can't join me (yoga), or because she is hungry or needs help with something or a million other reasons. I can only get about 15 min of exercise done before I get fed up and then I give up. I do yoga in the mornings before my daughter wakes up but that only goes so far and some days I don't even get finished before she gets up and starts annoying me. Please don't think I'm a bad parent, I love my child dearly but she drives me crazy when I'm trying to exercise and I need to exercise to be healthy! Any ideas are welcome, thank you!!

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  • bahacca
    bahacca Posts: 878 Member
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    Any way you can join a gym and have her in daycare? That is the only way I was able to do it. I was able to do P90X over the summer for a while, but that is because I have 2 kids and they were able to entertain themselves, but with no sibling....
  • anna_love
    anna_love Posts: 177
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    its really hard working out whe u kids in the house and i know it well i stay home with my 2 boys who are 3 years old and 19month's baby ..... the hate watching me working out:indifferent: :indifferent:
    but goo to the gym almost everyday ..... they watch them there for 2 hours and thats when i get my work out
    :wink:
  • careyharv
    careyharv Posts: 134 Member
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    I don't understand why she can't do the yoga with you. My daughter would do this with me on TV. She got bored and would play something else.

    Please don't take offense to this but she is 4. Tell her you are working out and give her an activity (drawing a picture is good) to do while she watches you finish your workout. Every time she interrupts you, tell her to sit down and work on her activity because "mommy wants to exercise". Tell her when you are done, you will help her with whatever she wants.

    Or get out of the house and have her go with you. Go for a brisk walk while she is pulled in a wagon, sits in a stroller or rides a bike.
  • carolann_22
    carolann_22 Posts: 364 Member
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    I have a 4 year old, a three year old, and a 4 month old. I find the time. Usually, I make a deal with them (the older ones, obviously) that I'm going to exercise till the timer goes off (usually 30 minutes) and then if they haven't bothered me and have been playing nicely with their toys, I will do X, Y or Z with them right after. That usually works - I get a solid 30 minutes, if they are into their toys and not noticing I will increase the timer (got 55 minutes in on Monday, lol), and then I do something fun with them. If I only got 30 minutes in the morning, I'll make the deal again in the afternoon. I want them to see that exercise is important to me. And if they want to exercise along with me, I let them (although they lose interest in about 10 minutes, at least it was 10 minutes they got).
  • tita0427
    tita0427 Posts: 26 Member
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    Try having her follow along, and try to do the yoga too. That could be fun for her. =) I put my lil guy in a stroller and jog/rollerblade with him also. He loves that. If she is past the stroller stage and riding a tricycle you can jog next to her while she rides or do walking lunges next to her. Just a lil of what I do...hope it helps. =)
  • schavarry
    schavarry Posts: 18
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    Going to the gym isn't exactly doable for me - I know people are going to say I'm making excuses but I can't afford to drive to daycare to drop my kid off for an hour and then drive to the gym so i can work out and then drive back to pick up my kid and drive home. The gas alone is more than I can afford, let alone the possible cost of a gym membership or child care. My husband is deployed so having him watch her is out too.
    I don't understand why she can't do the yoga with you. My daughter would do this with me on TV. She got bored and would play something else.

    Please don't take offense to this but she is 4. Tell her you are working out and give her an activity (drawing a picture is good) to do while she watches you finish your workout. Every time she interrupts you, tell her to sit down and work on her activity because "mommy wants to exercise". Tell her when you are done, you will help her with whatever she wants.

    Or get out of the house and have her go with you. Go for a brisk walk while she is pulled in a wagon, sits in a stroller or rides a bike.

    I prefer she doesn't do yoga with me because yoga is my relaxing time and any time I've tried to do it with her all I hear is "Look at me mom! I'm bored! I'm tired! Are you done yet?!" And I like peace and quiet - I don't even like my husband to see me do yoga because it distracts me from focusing on being Zen

    I try to tell her it's my exercise time when I play my xbox exercise game, I can usually warm up - do a 10 min work out and cool down before she drives me insane with her chatter

    Outdoors isn't really an option either because it's constantly raining (or in this week's case snowing) - it would work in the spring/summer when it's a mild drizzle or sunny outside.

    Thanks for the advice everyone!
  • premiumchilenita
    premiumchilenita Posts: 600 Member
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    oh, I soooo feel your pain!!! I have three, I map out a park about 30mins away then I put my younger 2 in a double pram and my 6yr old rides his bike. They all love the trip and then they get to play at the end of it, I take a snack for them and some water and we enjoy the time at the park (trying to be a good mummy, Lol)
    Then we all get ready and head back. That's my hour work out, I even get a good jog because my 6yr old is trying to see how fast he can go on his bike.
    If not we Zumba together or sometimes I find good songs that have a Zumba routine to it on youtube and we have fun looking for different songs.

    I hope this helps. The pool is good too (it's Summer here) I take the opportunity to jog on the spot while I carry my baby around and the other 2 are hanging off me.

    Find something that could work for you, maybe pretend play something active, obstacle courses, how fast can you do.........

    One of my main reasons for getting fit is so I can be active with my kids and run around doing the things they do and not get tired. The other day, I just spent an hour following my 3yr old and I'm telling you, I was puffing after that:laugh:

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