Excercising With Kids

It was a calm Saturday afternoon, the laundry finished, the boys were playing in their room, football was on the television. I had the idea to grab 30 min on the treadmill before dinner. Quietly I informed Jay of my plans and slipped into the bedroom to retrieve my workout wear. I made sure no one was watching and quietly went into the office to change and get started. FIVE minutes in the tweedle brothers burst through the door. They stand there and stare at me wanting to know what I am doing. I explain that I am exercising. CJ makes his way towards the treadmill. I warn him not to touch it. With all the moving parts, I didn't want him to get hurt. OR myself get hurt trying to keep him from injury. So there they are but Jay still had not made an appearance. CJ stays back but both children keep staring at me. Finally Jay shows up and apologizes for not realizing where they were (great). He attempts to make them leave but that is met with screaming. I didn't mind them in there as long as they didn't get near the treadmill. I tell him to start a slide show of photos on the computer. They would sit and watch. And this worked. Except WC would keep looking over at me. Eventually he asked me why I was jiggling. I typically workout in a sports bra & yoga pants. He's seen me in this before doing the workout dvd. But I guess he didn't notice then. But now he's pointing to my midsection asking me why it jiggles. And he keeps asking. He wants to why my stomach jiggles? He is exhibit A and sitting next to him there is Exhibit B. It just does, I tell him. Meanwhile, thinking that if he doesn't quit I'm going to get off the treadmill and throw his ass out the back door. After a couple more times, I tell him if he doesn't turn around and watch the pictures he will have to leave the room. End of that. This is why I get up at the crack of dawn to do this alone. After I finish, I leave the room to get water and on my way back to hit the shower I look in on them. There's CJ, standing in the middle of the treadmill, shirtless and holding one of my 3lb hand weights. WC is also shirtless but he's in front of the treadmill with the other weight. "What on earth are you guys doing?" I take the weight from CJ and make him get off the treadmill. WC explains that they were exercising too. "Why are you shirtless?"

"To be like you," WC replied.

Wow. As a parent, we really have to be careful what we do because our kids are watching, listening and learning. We are who they have to model adulthood after. We model what people are to them. It's huge. It makes me want to strive to be the best person I can.