Summer Sanity… Part Duex

So we’ve past the 4th of July and we are in the thick of it… and I am happy to say so far, I’m surviving!

We are at the point, however, where we’ve been spending a TON of time together. With a 6 and almost 5 year old, tensions sometimes run high. And to put a cherry on top, my 5 year old has decided he’s no longer napping, which is good in the fact that we don’t need to be home at a certain time of the afternoon and it makes things a little more flexible. But he is a bear when he doesn’t sleep enough. I’m talking waiting for his head to spin around, crazy person! So earlier bedtimes whenever possible have been instituted, like 6:30 PM!

While we’ve been having a lot of fun and utilizing the charts I talked about in part 1, I’m still seeing way to much rudeness with my kiddos.

So like any good mother who was raised in the 80’s would do, I took a cue from Mama Bear (of the Bernstein Bears fame) and the book Forget their Manners. I made a manners chart with consequences for various behaviors, giving them a set cause and effect of the behavior.

First Try

Now Mama Bear has her cubs doing extra chores as consequences and while it worked with Brother and Sister Bear, in the real world it actually caused me MORE stress to try and get my kids to sweep, dust, or wipe a dang counter properly.

Let’s be honest, a 5 year old doesn’t do a very thorough job sweeping floors!

So I went to my exercise roots and made the consequences simple moves, i.e. 10 jumping jacks for Rude Language or Actions. My thought, it gets their brain out of the frustration/ anger/ boredom/ etc. and focuses on the movement. Also, burns some of that energy and calms them, so you can have a more productive conversation after the consequence is done. “What can we do when we get angry instead of hit?”

Updated Chart

I know this won’t work for everyone. My kids love to exercise as it makes them feel big. They watch hubby and I exercise all the time, so the moves are not foreign to them. It is working for us so far…

Nothing is perfect, obvi, but I am optimistic that this will help reel in some of the behaviors that have me up worrying at night “Is my child a demon?”

What are some tricks you’ve used to survive summer so far? Would love to see your comments below 👇🏼

Good luck out there, everyone!

Working Out on a Cruise- Be Flexible

People who follow my Instagram know I try really hard to workout a little on vacations. I am eating a lot of not so healthy foods, not to mention drinking a lot of adult beverages, so I try to balance it by fitting in a workout a couple of times when I am away.  Makes me feel a little better about my bad choices!

We were on a cruise this week and one morning, I woke up early and tried to go back to sleep… but it wasn’t coming so I decided to hit the gym. I laid in bed and put together a leg workout based on the equipment I saw in the gym the day before, snuck into the bathroom and quietly got dressed… only to come out to my 6 year old standing at the door.

Mom, I want to come work out with you, too!

At first I said no. I told her to stay in the room, she had to be older to use the gym, I was looking forward to my leg day… but the look on her face and the fact that she wanted to be with me, to do something that I loved, how could I say no?

Getting our flex on!

So I reworked a kid friendly workout we could do on the running path around the ship, the stairs, etc. It wasn’t nearly as long or as hard of a workout as I planned, but she was so proud of herself for doing a “real workout”! She kept calling me “coach” during the workout and worked hard. I was able to do a sweat session with my girl and she enjoyed it! That’s a win in my book! She even voluntarily did Burpees as a finisher back in the room! (Sniff, sniff) Proud Mama moment!

I made it to the gym 2 other times, took the stairs whenever I could, climbed the rock wall with my girl and I did this crazy water inflatable park with the kids, which was a fantastic upper body workout pulling myself (and numerous kids, including my own) up and swimming all over the place!

Good squat form!  

Was I as active this week as usual? No way! But I made an effort to find ways to move and I also made precious memories with my babies while they still think I’m cool. They are growing up way too fast and while my health is very important to me, so is living in the moment. You really can do both, if you are a little flexible.

We had an awesome week, spending tons of quality time together. That is the reason I go on vacation, to make lots of memories with my favorites. Oh, and we napped… a LOT!

What are the ways you all stay active on vacation without sacrificing quality time?