As many of us work through homeschooling and working from home, there is a grey line between being Ms Mum or Mr Dad and regular Mum and Dad.  It is a tenuous line that we are treading in our home and family lives.  

Exercise is one of those things that can end up at the bottom of the list. 

One thing that has worked in my family is family exercise time.  

My daughters love nothing more than creating a yoga class or boot camp session for me (help!).  

Exercising as a family has provided us multiple opportunities for

• Family endorphin pumping – including lots of giggles
• The kids to boss around parents if they think we are not trying hard enough or have the correct technique.
• Learning about maths – counting how many push ups mum can do (not many and so we have to “add” the next exercise)
• Learning about science – the forces of gravity when you are trying to lift a weight or jump as high as you can.

Here are some practical ideas that have worked in my own family.

Do PE with the kids

If your kids have PE scheduled – join in! 

If you happen to find yourself as the PE teacher then get everyone outside for a walk, skip, hop around the block together (the more embarrassing the better).

Play Chasey

For family fun, play chasey in the park….I mean really play chasey.  Let your kids know how fast you used to be….and try to catch them!  It ends up in giggles, hilarity and occasionally tears (because either you pull a muscle or you catch your kids and they are not happy).  

Exercise amongst the mayhem

If all else fails, and the homeschool, working from home and house work is not allowing you to get out to do your exercise, as hard as it may be, embrace the mayhem.  Do your exercise amongst it all, on the lounge room floor.

• Sit ups
• Planks
• Push ups
• Squats

Don’t worry about the kids climbing on you – that is all part of the training!

A word of warning, I have tried doing squats in the kitchen but that seems to have taught my children that it is okay to kick their legs as high as they can whilst we are cooking dinner….so lesson learned…..exercise has to be outside the kitchen.

In summary, exercising is medicine but it isn’t always logistically easy.  So involve your kids.  You will teach them the value of exercise and that when you do it together as a family it is lots of fun.  

If my kids take this one message away from this surreal time then it is a win for me.  

If you need some more inspiration or tips, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us via our socials, email or call us on 03 9686 2373.