Help need to find a balance!

I can totally relate!!!  I have struggled with this even before we were of school age.  🙂  How old is your daughter? 

Here’s what I am doing.  My daughters are 2 and 5.  The 5 year old is in Kindergarten.  I trust her to stay away from the elliptical, but not the 2 year old.  I do my quiet time/Bible study during the 30-45 minutes before they get up.  They usually wake up between 6-6:30, but they are not to get up before 7.  After I get them up, we have breakfast, read our poem and Bible, and clean up.  Then we do something on the floor.  Sometimes it is purely a game and sometimes it is a math manip.  There is almost always an educational value to it.  Then I exercise on the elliptical while they play in the playroom, which I can block off so the 2 year old doesn’t get too close to the elliptical.  While I shower, they play with something in or near the bathroom.  After everyone is dressed and ready, we’ll do more lessons and continue on with our day.  The days that we have gym class, gymnastics, etc. we do less.

I plan to train for a 10K this coming spring (we’re in Wisconsin so after it thaws) so we’ll change things around a bit in that I hope to put the girls into the bike trailer jogger 2 days a week for a run outside.  We’ll run to a park where they can play and explore outside returning home.  I hope that we can do some of our reading at the park too.

I hope that helps.  I had to stop thinking about getting my exercise and quiet time done when they were in bed.  It just didn’t work.  So I decided that I had to figure out how to make it work to exercise while they were up.  And physical fitnes is very important to us so I wanted to set a good example for the long term.  I am hoping in the spring to work on the 5 year old’s bike riding ability and help her work up to riding her bike 3 miles alongside me while I run with the 2 year old in the jogging stroller.  Eventually, they’ll both be on their bikes.  And then we will ALL get our exercise and it will be a part of their life so hopefully they won’t have the same struggles when they grow up. 

I started exercising in 15 minute increments. I have 5 kids (ages 13 – 3). I get the school age kids doing something in school they can do alone – a math page or practicing math facts, etc then for the 3 yr old – she can look at books or color or do a “school worksheet”, etc. I set the timer for 15 minutes and don’t stop until the timer goes off. The kids know if they need me – I will be available in just a few minutes so they can wait.

I’ve done this since the 3yr old was a baby but get off track sometimes. It has been the only way I get to exercise. I aim for 4 – 15 minute sessions which is 1 hour of exercise. I don’t always get to do all 4 sessions but if I only do 2- I still have mananged to fit in 30 min. of exercise. 

Here’s when I do mine:
Before School: 15 minutes
During School Time – 15 minutes
Lunch/break time – 15 minutes
Afternoon  – 15 minutes

This is very flexible – some days my exercise just happens as time allows but I always manage to get in 1 – 15 minute session which is better than nothing.

Also while cooking supper – I may do some extra squats, arm circles, standing crunches, etc I figure anything I can do will help.

mrsjamiesouth – That’s great.   And congrats on deciding to do a 5K.  I found it hard to commit to doing it.  What hooked me was that my 5 year old is going to run a 1K next fall (as a 6 year old).  The next weekend the same group is hosting a 10K.  It’s a good motivator.  🙂  My question though is when do you do it and is it with the kids or alone?

Well, my dh is a firefighter so he works 24 on 48 off.  I go in the mornings on the days he’s off by myself. The plan I am using only calls for 3 days a week to do running.  On the other days I try to use a video.  My daughter takes a nap at 1130, so I will finish school by 1 and then workout to a video for 30 minutes.  I like Taebo and I also have an old Jump rope workout. 

A friend of mine used Walk away the Pounds and loved it.  She took all the kids on her walks.