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This past Saturday, my daughter came with me to the track and ran a few laps with me while I was doing my 3 miles. Now she’s only 5.5. She has the heart of a runner; she would keep running all day long if I let her. Since she’s young and growing, I encouraged her to take breaks, to run slower, and to ride her strider if she didn’t feel like running.
While I love to be active with my younger kids by doing runs together and nature walks, including them doesn’t always mean that my level of exercise is as intense as I would like. As a mom of 5 with limited time to exercise, I need to go into activities with my kids with appropriate expectations. As my kids get older and stronger, we can add in activities like biking and running together.
Take them someplace where it’s okay if some of the kids get a little ahead
When I took my kids to the Heinz Refuge this summer, we brought their bikes, and I walked. The older ones could go ahead a little while I stayed with the little ones as long as they came back and stayed within shouting and seeing distance.
Take them to a track where they can participate at will
The track I took my daughter to this weekend has a small playground next to it, and it’s also bike-friendly. My daughter ran the first lap with me, and took a break to play on the playground. When I came back around for another lap, she joined me again. I kept my pace a little slower to stay with her.
When I brought my 8 year old son to the same track, we rode bikes together to the track. While I ran on the track, he rode his bike next to me. Then, we rode together back home. The track is about a mile from our home.
Go for a longer, slower walk
I like to take the kids over to a local college which has an arboretum. We walk around the campus at our own pace, exploring and visiting our favorite spots. 90 minutes is usually enough time for all of us to be moving. We’ve also done nature walks the same way.
When you do activities with your kids, keep your expectations focused on moving most of the time at their pace while doing the activity over a longer period of time.
Last week, Joyful Living’s post and Accidental Fitness Quest’s post both received the most clicks.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Love seeing posts that gets parents motivated to get their kids out of the house and ideas on what they can do with them.
julieann r recently posted..Neckties from Bows-N-Ties.com – Review
GREAT ideas! Right now my oldest is still stroller-age, so it’s easy for me to walk with her without having to really think of her endurance level–but those days are rapidly drawing to a close! I love your ideas!
Jaime @ slightlysteady.com recently posted..Suburban Homesteading
The strider works well for little ones who haven’t learned to ride a bike yet. They’re still moving, though faster than they would if they were walking.
Good ideas I try to get my boys active, They are in spots-soccer and karate. I love to take them walking through a local wooded trail.
Momma and boys living on a budget recently posted..Common sense tips about preventing skin cancer
Thanks for sharing with us at Healthy 2Day Wednesdays!
Hey- Do you have a linky grab option so I can just put this same linky on the posts I submitted?
Tamara @ Silent Springs recently posted..Is It Safe For Children To Play Outside These Days?
Let me look at the linky & see what I can set up.
Here’s the code: Get the InLinkz code for Motivation Monday
I also added it to the post. I’ll include it each week. Thanks for asking!
Barb – Thanks. I’m wondering if there is any way we can get the code with JUST the linky… maybe it’s not possible. But I’m trying to add the links to my blog articles with out all of this test. It’s just too much text for 1 blog… But maybe it’s all part of te link and therefore can’t be separated…. Just a thought.
I’m a 44 year old mom of 5 who writes about healthy living, food, frugality and family. As I get older, I’m finding it’s harder to include fitness in my life, though I’m determined to do so. Being busy with 5 kids can make cooking real food meals difficult at times. Plus, my body just isn’t as young as it used to be. I’m not the only one. Let’s get together and build a community to support each other in all our stages of life as a mom.
Please link up your posts on healthy living: food, fitness, and personal growth. We want to hear about your struggles and your successes.
Carnival business
1. Please link directly back to this post so your readers can find more motivation and inspiration.
2. Link to your post, not your homepage. We want to hear what you have to say. We also want to drop you a comment, or two.
3. Posts need to be family-friendly. Just saying.
4. Please take the time to comment on a post or two. While we all love writing, we love being heard, too.
5. No business promotions, please. Reviews and product giveaways are fine, but no posts about being a distributor of vitamins or business equipment. The point is to build community and support each other in healthy living.
Tamara @ Silent Springs recently posted..Google Maps Launches New Under-Sea View
I can work on rewriting it to make the text shorter, and drop the parts relevant to my blog into my post template. After all, you’re not a mom of 5…
Can you email me at barb @ alifeinbalance.net, and we’ll get this working?
It’s so important to form the habit of moving and getting exercise from a young age — great suggestions! Thanks for sharing on Busy Monday.
Charlene@APinchofJoy recently posted..Lemon Poppyseed Zucchini Bread
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