My Personal Trainers.

My husband is in Toronto this week for work.  I spent the weekend at a professional conference while my husband took the kids camping with a girl scout troop (yes, I know, we are lucky to have him).  Sunday, I came home from my conference and saw him for literally one minute before he had to leave for the airport.

This week my mom friends and I put on a camp for our kids, and today was my day to lead camp (mental note: do not lead camp on Monday if you are working all weekend).  I was up late last night getting things ready, and up early this morning to get set up and ready before the campers arrived.  The day was a whirlwind of activity, and my house is a wreck.  I am exhausted, but I signed up for a 5K in Sept. and Monday is a running day so I *have* to do it.  I didn't feel like going to the Y (where I have child care), so I put my kids on their bikes and let them ride around the blacktop of our neighborhood elementary school while I ran on their dirt track.  Both kids joined me on my laps for a while, and then they alternated between playing on the playground and riding bikes while I ran.

I still do not love running.  I REALLY do not love running when I'm distracted, trying to supervise my children while convincing my body to just keep going.  But today, I had a real appreciation for the fact that I COULD do it, and even though I'd rather do it alone, I'm glad my kids got to see me do it.  This would not have been possible 6 months ago, or even 6 weeks ago.  I ran for 20 minutes without stopping (and 3 other 5 minute stretches) as part of this week's program.  They saw me do it all.  They know I didn't give up. 

This whole experience, frustrating though it may be at times, is so worth it.  I am teaching my children, especially my daughter, that hard things are worth doing, and that I am worth the effort.

My personal trainers.  I posted this picture on FB, and a friend asked how many times my son had to poke me with that stick to get me to keep going, lol!

I love your personal trainers.  My 5 year old grandson is mine.

I love it!! Where on earth did you find that t-shirt your son is wearing? Its perfect for my grandson, he was Darth "Bobby" for Halloween last year.

It was in a bag of hand-me-downs.  He is so hard on clothing I hardly ever buy him anything that isn't for a special occasion.

I absolutely love it that you are teaching your children how to be healthy by letting them watch you work hard to achieve success.  If there is anything I learned from raising my kids, it's that kids don't really listen to what you say (as in lecturing) but they watch what you DO and how you interact with others.   You are having a much bigger impact on them than you can even imagine.  Bravo! 

Awesome.  :)  :)