Parents Make Fitness a Priority

I dropped my youngest son at kindergarten this morning. For five years my mornings and afternoons have revolved around Zane and his activities and needs.  Suddenly, I find myself at home alone.  But this isn’t the first time.  Ten years ago, I came home to another empty house having dropped my middle child off for her first day of school.  I cried during most of the walk from the school to our home, then went inside and cried some more.

But sometime later in that long morning I made a decision.  For five years I had been working my workouts in around my children and their needs.  For five years my workouts had been sporadic at best.  And though I was not the fitness geek then that I have become since, I knew that fitness and health were important to me. I knew that I wanted to set an example for my children that would encourage them to make wise health decisions as they got older. So, I committed that day to making fitness a priority. 

I committed to saying no to coffee with other moms right after drop off.  I committed to putting off the laundry and the dishes and the shopping every day until after I had completed a workout.  This was not as easy as it sounds.  It took making my health a priority and sticking with this commitment until it became a habit.

My workout of choice is running.  I find it to be the quickest, most efficient way to stay in shape and I enjoy the stress relief it gives me.  So today when I dropped my son off at school, I went in my running skirt, Baltimore Marathon shirt, and running shoes.  I had my bottle of water and my Garmin and I was ready to run. 

Today, after ten years of making my fitness a priority it was easy.  There was no question of letting something push its way in front of my workout.

Surprisingly, unlike ten years ago, I was not alone.  As I headed out for my run, I watched other parents climbing into their cars in their gym clothes headed for Big Vanilla. I watched moms and dads getting on their bikes in pairs of twos for a little morning bike ride and conversation and I saw moms, running side by side with dogs in tow.

Parents are making a commitment to fitness everyday. They are putting their health to the forefront because they understand that they are investing in their own lives as well as the lives of their children.  They understand that by leading a healthy life now, they won’t have to rely on their grown children to take care of them.  They won’t watch as their child shakes their head at them and talks to the doctors as though they aren’t in the room.  Instead, they will be joining their children for local races.  They will be involved in their children’s life as a fit and healthy example.  They will be active, running through the front yard chasing grandchildren.

But it takes commitment and for as many parents as I saw heading out for a morning workout this morning there were just as many who were waddling towards their cars with cigarette packages in hand, ready to spend their morning ignoring their most valuable asset, their health.  There were just as many who would answer, “I don’t have time,” when asked why they don’t workout.  It does take time to be fit.  It does take time to be active.  But it is time that is well spent.  It is time that will give back later as you are able to avoid spending hours in doctor’s office or laid up on the couch with yet another illness.  Fitness takes time. It takes commitment.  It takes making your health a priority.  But in the end, for both parents and their families, it is worth the effort.