If your children are not yet at an age where they can attend school, or be left home alone, you might struggle to find time to incorporate the same kind of fitness activities that you did prior to their birth. When this is the case, it can be a good idea to look into other ways to stay active, to keep yourself healthy as well as to be a good role model for your children. Even if you do not get time to yourself, either through being a single parent or due to a partner’s work commitments, it can still be important to find ways to exercise, as well as to enjoy it.
Work Out at Home
It’s highly unlikely that you will be able to go to the gym when you have young children, unless there is a creche, or you wait until someone else can watch them. To compensate for this, you might want to consider the ways you can work out at home. This could be undertaken either when the children are in bed at night, having a nap throughout the day, or are even at preschool. By looking through the full range of fitness equipment that you can source online, you should be able to find exercises that you like, and that will help you work towards the physique you want, without needing to leave your home or your children.
Involve the Kids
A large part of a child’s growth and learning within the early years can come from imitating the behaviours they see from their primary caregivers. You can find some exercises to do alongside your child, such as yoga, cycling or even going for a run or skip, that will not only help you to increase your fitness level but also help to set them up with healthy habits for life. Children who engage in exercise alongside their parents may be more likely to continue exercising into the future. This can also be a great way to further strengthen your parent and child bond, through enjoying the activities together.
Consider Your Daily Tasks
Being a parent can be incredibly tiring. One thing you should remember is that, even if you aren’t playing sports or taking part in a structured regime, you are most likely exercising throughout the day. Calories are burned through movement, meaning that those daily chores are also providing you with physical activity, whether that be cleaning the home, running errands, or simply looking after your child’s needs. This means that should you then not have the time or energy for a workout, you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself, as you have likely already done a lot throughout the course of the day.
Staying fit can be a good way to improve your mood, as well as teach your children about a healthy lifestyle. Keeping fit with small children might sound difficult, but it certainly is not impossible, especially if you are usually on the go.
