Fit Parents Will Only Encourage Fit Children

I knew when I was pregnant with Peanut that I did not want her to struggle with her weight like I had for the last 10 years. In fact, as parents, we always want better for our children, so with this in mind I knew I had to make some changes.

Let us not beat around the bush, I had A LOT of BIG changes that I would have to make. I remember taking a course in woman's health when Peanut was 2 months old and I wrote a paper on childhood obesity. I saw statistics like if a child has 2 obese parents they have an 80% chance of being obese, with one parent it is 50%.

I thought about it, did I really want to give my child a head start on something horrible like that?

Nope, not a chance.

SO I set out to do what I felt would be best for her. I worked hard and started to change my lifestyle. I knew that I wanted my daughter to have a fighter in her, I knew that if I was a fighter then she would have a strong example to learn from.

We started together, jogging in her jogging stroller when she was about 1. It became a nice way for the 2 of us to bond when I got home at night after work. She and I really looked forward to our nightly runs and as she gets older now I let her run sometimes and push her small jogging stroller. Also I have started taking her to the track and let her walk while I run. After we do exercises and she tries to mimmick me as I do push ups, sit ups and planks. She has fun.

On her own, I have her enrolled in gymnastics and she enjoys doing that. She also likes to go to the playground and climb things, jump around and attempt the monkey bars. I know one day she will be whizzing right through them :)

The other thing she enjoys is being around me in the gym when I am working out. I try to let her do this once or twice a week. I really like how she gets curious about the equipment and does her own things. I feel this will help her in the long run.

Watching her, I know she already looks at exercise and exercise equipment as fun. She loves counting reps as we do push ups and she enjoys being with me when I am working out.

The main goal for me is to have her just be active and healthy. I do not want her to have the struggles I did with exercise and obesity. I want her to have a head start on being fit and healthy and I know if I continue to let her find her own love of it then she will never have a problem.

Of course I would love if she decides to be a runner ;)

But to me, all that matters is she find some exercise, sport, or activity that she loves and learn to excel in it. This is how I have come to love running and racing, and I just want her to have the same thing.