Making Exercise Count

As a parent, it is important for you to remain focused on taking good care of yourself, including by exercising regularly. This can be difficult when you have to worry about supervising your child, but you have a few options for keeping your child entertained and safe while you are getting your workouts in.

1. Encourage Your Child to Exercise, Too

Of course, for safety reasons, you probably don't want to encourage your child to get on the treadmill or to start lifting weights. However, one good way that you can encourage your child to be active while getting in a workout yourself is to ask him or her to exercise with you. Then, you can choose age-appropriate exercises that your child can do while you're getting your own workout in. For example, if you're doing a DVD or online video that plays music, encourage your child to dance to the music while you're doing the moves from the video. If you're going to be working out on the treadmill, you can encourage your child to do jumping jacks or to jog in place in front of you. This can allow you to keep your child busy while you're getting your workout in, can help you encourage your child to be more active, and can help your child burn up a little bit of excess energy, all at the same time. Plus, you will be able to keep an eye on your little one, even while you're exercising.

2. Choose a Gym With a Day Care

Nowadays, many gyms have day care facilities that provide care for children while their parents work out. This can be an ideal situation; it can allow you to get in your weekly exercise classes or to hit the elliptical, and it can allow your child to meet and play with other kids while being properly supervised. If your current fitness center does not offer this option, then you may want to shop around for other options that do.

3. Drop Your Child Off at a Day Care Facility

Even if you don't work full-time or otherwise don't need full-time day care for your child, you can still take advantage of day care services. Some day care facilities offer drop-in services, which means that you can drop your child off for an hour or two at any time of the day, as long as the facility is open. Others will allow you to enroll in part-time services, so you can drop your child off for a few hours a day so that you can exercise, run errands, or do other things that you need to do while your child is being supervised.