Catheites w/ kids home for summer

M

melisspriss76

Cathlete
Seriously.... when are you working out with the kids home? Mine are 7, 5 and 2, so I try to get it done early while they are still lounging around watching their cartoons, however this eventually turns into them fighting which always causes me to pause the DVD to break up whatever is going on. I know the simple solution would be to get up early and DO IT before they all get up except I work out on the third floor of our house which would cause them and DH sleeping on the second floor to wake up! I'm so frustrated, just courious if anyone else struggles with this ALL summer?
 
Just lock them all in a room for an hour :p


Seriously though, can you get puzzlemats or something to absorb some of the pounding so you can do it in the morning? Either that, or do you have any room anywhere else that would be less noisy?

ETA it's hard for me, too. My son will be 3.5 soon and I have to do it when he naps if I get to at all. I often take him to the gym these days for babysitting b/c it's hard to get in a good solid Cathe w/o lately. Plus I hate starting out in the middle of the day rather than morning. Blah.


Debbie


It's not denial. I'm just selective about the reality I accept.
-Calvin & Hobbes
 
I have the same problem with my 2, 8 and 15 year olds and my 16 year old (if he's awake). I threaten that I will interrupt their video game, cartoon, or movie time if they continue to interrupt my exercise video time. That usually does the trick.

I remind them before I start that it is my time to "watch" T.V. and that I expect them to pay me the same courtesy that I pay them when they are watching T.V. The 2 year old doesn't understand but the others are willing to try to keep the peace with him and each other so that I won't bother them when they have their time later on.

I followed through with my threat a couple of times in the beginning.

I hope you find a solution that works for your whole family.

Michelle
 
I've got my 6 and 9 year old BOYS home all summer. I workout EARLY so I can get it done and showered before they're even out of bed. I will workout during the day with them around, if I HAVE to. They're pretty good, because they're used to it, but they still get on each other's nerves, fight, etc. Plus, I simply can't concentrate on my WO with ANYBODY in the house awake. lol

To help with this, sometimes I'll let them pick a movie to plug in downstairs and we'll all watch it while I run the TM. Or I'm moving my old PC downstairs and one of them can play that. But again, I have a hard time concentrating.

Gayle
 
Arranging my workouts around my kids' schedule is a year round problem for me. I cannot be a morning exerciser, I am a night owl. So, I use the treadmill at a nearby gym while the girls have swim class at the Y down the road, or I power walk around the walking track at the Y during the same. Other than that, it has to be while my husband is at home and around the house so I can leave and go to the gym or, in the Winter, I wait until the girls are in bed, at 10 pm, and then go use the treadmill because the gym is open til midnight.

With kids, you have to make the most of any moment you can. It can be hard to set up a regular schedule. Your workout time may have to be at a different time each day, depending upon their activities. But I hope you don't think that your spouse should be excluded from this deal? When he comes home, that's the start of your time. Dad can put the kids in the bath and read to them while you get your workout in. He is your support system and has to understand that you can only do what you do if you get the chance to also look after yourself, right? My husband understands this, and does not complain when I go out for a couple of hours and leave him to get the dinner sometimes, or sort out their squabbles.

Tha hardest thing for me to get over has been the guilt attached to taking time for myself to workout, rather than keep on sacrificing myself to the greater good of the family and stay around the house attending totheir needs. For a few hours a week, we all have to understand, at least in this house, that it's Mum's time and no-one else gets to make claims on it. Your 7 year old can understand that, but the 2 year old needs supervision. That's where you either take advantage of naps, get a babysitter or get hubby involved.

Clare
 
Hi Melissa,

I had my kids come down to the basement and they each sat in their own spot away from each other and read. It may be easier for you to have the oldest read to the youngest. If you have a portable dvd player maybe the youngest could watch a movie with headphones of course.

My kids (all boys) tended to fight whenever I was in the basement working out. I was so tired of them interrupting my workouts that they simply had to come downstairs with me and do something quiet until my workout was done, usually about an hour. Your 2 yr old may be too young to understand so I'm not sure if this will work for you.

I also used to hire the neighbor girl to babysit the boys while I went running.

I know it's a struggle but you have to take care of yourself too.

Diana
 
My DD's, who are 7 and 9, are so use to me working out that they'll ask me in advance when I'm going into the basement to exercise. Sometimes they'll join me, other times they're content playing. It's never been an issue, but I must say, with our busy summer schedule I am happy that I discovered Barry's Bootcamp and 30 min. workouts. I don't think that I'll be doing a full Cathe workout until September.
 
ALL summer? How about all year?? My kids are now 4 and 2 and I have had to continually rearrange my workout schedule to fit their schedule. While I exercise they play downstairs with me. I do this as soon as I can in the morning, but it is at least an hour and a half afer we get up. And yes, I have to pause the DVD every single day. If not necessarily to break up a fight, to help someone. But what can you do? That's how it is. Sometimes when I think it isn't going well, I will bribe them with a treat--if you are good while Mommy exercises you can have a popsicle when I am done. I don't feel the least bit guilty either. It is that important to me. But if they aren't good, they don't get a treat.
 
Melissa,
I had to laugh as this reminded me of something that happened lastweek. My son, who is 2, was intrigued with my step. I had set up my Cathe DVD workout on a mini DVD player in the other room, while he was watching his two favorite shows on Disney. I was also sick of not getting my workouts in, so I figured that I was going to workout no matter what. As soon as I started (it was Cardio Fusion), he was all over the step. After a few tempter tantrums, he got the picture that is was my exercise time:) . My summers are way more laid back because I don't work in the summer. During the school year, I get up at 4:30 to exercise before he is up.
-Jen
 
Melissa,

My kids are 7, 5, and 2 also!!! I w/o in the morning before they are up. Sometimes, my youngest will wake up during this time. I give her a sippy cup and she sits on the couch and watches. She usually falls asleep.

My oldest is going back to school in a couple weeks. Here lately, we have been sleeping in. It will be a lot more structured when he is back to school and we have a more scheduled bedtime.

One suggestion is taking the kids to a track. My kids (even the youngest) love to run around the track (at the high school). I get a chance to run a little bit and it is great exercise for the kids! I like to do walking lunges when they get restless. I also take a football and let them "play" in the field. It is fun!

Sara
 
My children have learned from past experience not to interrupt their mother during her "one thing that keeps her sane" routine. I'm in the basement and can hear everything above me. They know if they start fighting and I have to press pause, fire will billow from my nostrils. I also sweeten the process by planning something fun after, if they behave. I must say it turns me inside out if I have to keep pressing pause! x(
 
My daughter is 20 and going to college and my son is 14 so I don't have to worry about those things anymore thank goodness! But I can remember doing the Firm with my infant son in his swing with the sweeper turned on because he would wake up and cry if I turned it off. The funny thing is, back then when the kids were little I had no trouble exercising consistantly. Now that they're older, I seem to find more reasons to skip it. I guess I've gotten lazier.
 
This is my biggest frustration. I pretty much stopped working out after school let out on June 15 because I can't go to the basement or my room for more than 10-15 minutes without having to break up a fight, feed someone, wipe a bum, clean up a mess, etc.

I'm resigned to resuming my workouts in September, when school starts.

Hopefully, by next summer, and when my youngest is 5, they will be that much more "independent."
 
The one thing saved my summer workouts is WEBKINZ. Thanks to a deal on a lap top and an extemely generous grandma, we have 2 computers and the kids get up on their own, log on and play until I am up and worked out (and sometimes showered). My kids are 7 (which helps a lot, but I've had my days of getting up at 5:30 so I don't have to press pause. I am also a fire breathing mommy when I have to do that.
I hope you make it though the next few weeks and just remember, school will start again. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
 
>>ALL summer? How about all year??

Ditto!


>>My kids are now 4 and 2

Ditto!



>and
>I have had to continually rearrange my workout schedule to fit
>their schedule.


You're doing better than I am! I call this "rolling with the punches"--and I suck at it.


Gisela




"She's living in sin with a cowboy, and hell--he can hardly even walk!" --J.R. Ewing, "Dallas"
 
Melissa,

Did you go to the track? How was it? We went yesterday too. Kids had fun and my legs are a little sore! I race ds (almost 7). He is fast!!! I have to work hard to stay ahead of him. I think this helps him build speed when he has some competition. Both of my ds's (7 and 5) ran one time around only stopping to walk a couple times. My dd (2) ran half-way around....laughing the whole time. (I chase her.) It was fun and we all left in a really good mood!

Sara
 
My kids (7 and 8, both girls) are pretty trained to accept my workout time, and just play quietly. Even my dogs know Cathe. When my Lab hears the opening music she gets her bone and hits the couch. When they were younger, I either worked out before everyone was up (4:30 a.m), or I took them to my local YMCA, which offered
1 hour and 15 minutes of babysitting. I found that place a godsend when they were babies. They don't like to go anymore, so whenever they fight, I tell them they will have to go to babysitting if they don't stop acting out. That puts them in place. Alicia
 
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