4 Ways Children Can Help You Stay Active

Lower Body Strengthening

1. Offer your toddler a bowl filled with their favorite cereal. Leave the lid off to encourage exploration.

2. Distracted by your phone for just a moment? Take a look around—has your child scattered every last piece? If not, repeat the previous step. If yes, gently take the empty bowl from their hands.

3. If your toddler is upset despite the lack of food, good! Now, engage in squats to pick up each cereal piece instead of bending to the floor. Aim to collect them before their distress escalates to a full-blown meltdown.

4. To increase the challenge, allow the dog to join in. Race against the dog to pick up all the cereal first.

Cardio

1. Let your preschoolers host a “theater” show with their stuffed animals on the stairs, ensuring they have all the toys their grandparents have gifted them over the years.

2. Send your kids upstairs with an old, neglected toy they suddenly deem essential. Put on your sneakers—you have a race to win!

3. Sprint up the stairs while skillfully dodging a sea of stuffed animals. Intervene as necessary to restore peace.

4. By the time you descend, chaos will likely have resumed. Repeat until you feel the urge to declutter their toy collection entirely.

5. For an added challenge, re-install baby gates at both ends of the stairs. This will test not only your physical strength but also your patience.

Yoga

1. As traffic builds, load your kids into the minivan, ensuring they are close enough to interact with each other.

2. Provide them with a few toys but do not turn on any entertainment. Allow the boredom to set in.

3. After several minutes of squabbling and toy-dropping, brace yourself for the inevitable chaos.

4. When the noise reaches a tipping point, stay firmly in traffic and start to appease them. Retrieve dropped toys while keeping your foot on the brake and body contorted. Use one arm to separate any conflicts while your other hand grips the wheel.

5. For maximum mental fortitude, bring your partner along and strive for a calm demeanor amid the mayhem.

Core Strength

1. About twenty minutes before nap time, take your three-year-old to the grocery store with a long shopping list.

2. Ask if they prefer to walk or ride in the cart, and then insist they do the opposite. When they resist, lift them into the cart while keeping your core engaged.

3. As you navigate the aisles, watch for any meltdowns and maintain your balance while preventing collisions with other shoppers.

4. When it’s time to leave, carefully transfer your child back into their car seat while stabilizing the cart with your leg.

5. For additional difficulty, bring your older child along, letting them push a small cart while you manage the chaos.

The next time someone admires your fit physique in your favorite yoga pants, channel your inner Gwyneth and say, “Really?!? I hardly ever hit the gym; just keeping up with my little ones does the trick!”

For more information on maintaining fitness while parenting, you might find our other blog post on intracervical insemination helpful. Additionally, Make a Mom offers fantastic resources on at-home insemination kits, and CCRM IVF is an excellent source for pregnancy-related advice.

Summary

Incorporating your children into your daily activities can be a fun and effective way to stay fit while managing the chaos of parenting. From strengthening your lower body while cleaning up Cheerios to engaging in cardio workouts on the stairs, these activities not only improve your physical health but also foster family bonding. Yoga poses can be performed even in a traffic jam, and core strength is built while navigating grocery store tantrums. Embrace these opportunities for fitness while enjoying time with your little ones.