Just something nice I saw at the gym
 

So.... I can't say I know much about kids or raising them since I don't have any and truthfully don't really want any but it seems all I see and hear about everywhere are kids attached to leashes, getting yelled at, stuck in front of video games, growing roots in front of tv's, tossing bags of chips and bottles of soda into grocery carriages, shooting each other on the news. Stories about the increase in sedentary lifestyles and obesity in children etc. and its just such a downer!
Well I was at the gym last night and I saw a mother and her son (he was about 12ish I guess), at 8:00PM on a Wednesday night, enjoying a workout together on neighboring ellipticals, laughing and smiling and catching up on each others days and then after that moved on and helped each other lift some weights. I just thought that this woman was setting such a good example and teaching her son a good habit that I thought she deserved props somewhere! I know that the above listed behaviors aren't common practice for all children and all families but sometimes I just feel like I NEVER see anything to the contrary.Its really refreshing to actually see some good things in action to battle all the articles and news reports I hear and read! It makes me wish someone had done that with me when I was that age! Props to you local mom!

Yes, Sunshine, I too wish I would have been brought up that way. More importantly I wish I would have brought my children up in a more active, physical household. How I wish we would have taken walks after dinner, or thrown around a football or went bicycling together on a Sunday afternoon. Or even thrown around a frisbee at a park or did jump rope together or something, physical and active. Tennis, skiing - SOMETHING!!! :( . I didn't know any better at the time. Plain and simple. Or perhaps I knew we should have been more active but chose to let it slide. What a huge mistake.


But I do gotta tell you, there ARE a lot of decent kids out there in the world, we just don't always hear stories about them. You never know what your future holds, when you meet the right person you just may change your mind about wanting kids someday.

my gym is also very family friendly - and...it USED to be that my very FIRST thought unfortunately was, "dangit, why are there kids here?..." lol...but then I stopped and thought to myself...no wait a minute - it's a GOOD thing they're here. Their parents care enough about their child's health and MORE kids SHOULD be working out instead of being at home in front of the TV.

My poor daughter, she has been so sad because she is too short to use my cross-trainer! She'll be 8 soon and loves to work out with me.............we go swimming, ride our bikes and lift weights, but that cross-trainer really gets to her:( We are members at the YMCA and the kids that go there are great!!!!

I'm pretty sure that my gym is kid friendly....at least I'd say I think it is. There are just never any kids there...this was probably the only time I've seen a kid working out with a parent which I thought was nice. There are the small gaggles of early teenage girls and boys who travel in herds and mostly just socialize but hey....thats cool too, I mean really, we all did it.
Its so great that so many people here are involving their children and getting them to enjoy being active....I just wish I got to see more of it regularly. Someone should put some stories out there about all of the decent kids in the world!

Ha ha Robin...that sounds like what my whole family has been telling me for all years that I've been insisting that I don't really want kids (secretly I know my mother is heart broken since I'm an only child)....I can honestly say that I've never felt that I want children and everyone always says to 'wait until I get older, I'll change my mind' but I tell you the older I get the less interested I am. I'm convinced I'm lacking any biological clock whatsoever....someday it may change who knows, my clock could just need a new battery...preferably a tall, dark, handsome and employed battery :D . Don't get me wrong I love kids, I'm great with kids, really most of the time I'm like a big 5 year old but for some reason I've just never felt that having my own was for me.

NESunshine, that's a lovely story.

My gym is similar - it's women only, and there's at least one woman who's got Down's Syndrome who works out there. She just comes in with her support worker and starts working out. It's actually fantastic - she's incredibly encouraging towards other members. I was on the treadmill and really starting to struggle and she popped up next to me to tell me I was "doing good". It's a mutual encouragement - everyone encourages her as well, and it's just lovely.

I haven't ever seen kids at my gym before. We do have a gym at our apartment complex and some of the people thing it's okay to let their little kids l(ike four or five year olds) play on the machines and not ask them to get off when other people come in ... grr...
It would be nice to see more parents out there with their kids.

i'm with you on the not wanting kids thing. Sometimes I think I want one, and I get that sorta sad feeling because I know my hubby is vehemently against breeding.. but then I spend some time with a kid or see one in public acting like a wild little monkey... and the feeling passes. :) I joke that every time a baby cries one of my eggs dies... but I think maybe it'd be okay to have a kid of my own, I'd like to think I'd be a good parent and not let me kid be a wild monkey... *L*