Time on school holidays..
Its the start of the school holidays for me, always a busy time and bringing plenty of guilt my way too! I work during some of the holidays too, I always try to make sure my sessions are all before 1pm and that I get at least one full day off too but there is still the feeling that your not doing enough with them!
When I was young my parents had help from maternal grandmother who lived with us, so they both worked and both my sisters and I stayed at home with gran. It was a great help to mum but I still reckon the guilt overshadowed the easiness of it.
To add more difficulty into the mix where is your fitness going to fit in! The normal time you fit it in will be just when the kids want to go to the park! Well look, its only one week, so put it in to context a little - you could treat it as a little blip / you could leave your fitness until the kids are zoned out in front of the TV or you could wait until your no2 babysitter is back from work and then hand them the baton and plough on with getting sweaty!
I personally think the latter works well for a weeks holiday, if you haven’t got a no2, ask a family member/friend or just wait till the kiddies are in bed. Yes, it may be tough getting on the exercise bike, rowing machine or completing that hiit workout at 8 pm but just remember how good you will feel after! The thing is you don’t have to do it as many times as you’d normally complete it, if you can only fit in your session twice this week well that’s ok, it still twice!
Kids do have a great way of topping up the guilt too, but when we were young didn’t we have to find our own entertainment? I did, which I tell my kids ALL the time, I have already had the ‘I’m bored’ whinge and it was only the first day!
Another great way of getting your fitness in is including the kids, if you work out at home, get the kids moving too! They may not like the idea at first but once they start the jumping jacks they will get into the swing of things!
You see it is a pretty stressful time school holidays, there is noise ALL the time, fighting and bickering all day long, for me I can deal with all that IF I know I will be able to lift some weights for an hour that day, or get on my rowing machine, both of these activities will help calm me, destress me and make me feel I can take on another day with the 3 monsters!!
It's tough being a parent, I don’t think I realised how hard it would be but with the help of fitness I can manage the stress that a busy family life throws at me. The most important thing you have to do for yourself is to MAKE time for YOU!