Parent's Work Out

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

13 Mar 2006 07:00 AM

We see the signs everywhere inviting parents to take a night out to themselves and leave their children at their Church, daycare, dance school or gymnastics school. Time out for parents is a decidedly necessary opportunity in a day and age when so many of us are working two jobs or busy raising families that parents need Parent's Work Out almost as much as they need a Parent's Night Out.

Frankly, I'm tired a lot more often than I am not. Finding time to work out seems to just add another chore to the day, especially in the beginning. It helps to set modest goals and to target what you can do rather than what you can't. We're all busy, we're all a bit crazed and Heaven knows if we could add a couple of extra hours to every day without sacrificing more sleep, we would do it.

The best way for a parent's workout to succeed is to set modest goals. By modest, I mean don't expect yourself to run a marathon. Don't even give yourself grief if all you can manage is the ten minutes to walk the kiddos to school in the morning or on a treadmill.

The best advice for parent's work out is to find someone to work out with. It's easier for me to stick to my routines when I have someone who helps me maintain accountability. So here are a few other ideas that I've tried - some with modest success and others that didn't work out so much. But there's always the thought that what works for one person may not work for another and vice versa.

Try doing these to give yourself a boost in your parent's work out:

• Try doing sit ups or leg raises while watching television
• Pour energy into your vacuuming - make it a real workout
• Eat small meals six times a day instead of big ones three times a day
• Do your walking errands/chores with ankle weights
• Find some type of physical activity you enjoy and keep doing it

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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Myra Turner (1560) 26 Jul 2006 08:12 AM

I find walking to be the best way for me to work out although sometimes finding the time is hard. But that just got easier. My son just started Kindergarten and I will be able to get at least an hour to an hour 15 minutes a day walking home from his school (we are getting dropped off in the morning so he's not all sweaty and then I am walking back home) and then I will walk back to pick him up and we will walk home. The trip to the school is about 15 minutes. I will actually walk an extra 15 minutes after I drop him off and before I pick him up. As a mid-life mom I find it is getting harder for me to lose weight and keep it off.

Heather Long (16954) 27 Jul 2006 08:48 AM

That's some great advice and I feel your pain. I'm looking forward to my daughter's kindergarten starting because it's half mile away so I can walk her to and from and that will be twice a day for me!