Exercising with a toddler-in-tow
Whether you are a fitness fanatic, an occasional runner, play competitive sport in a team, love dancing, cycling or swimming, there is no doubt that having small children will have had an impact on the amount of time available to exercise, and your attitude towards it. Whether you’re desperate to continue, get back to it, or start a new regime, you of course have to take into consideration what happens to your little one while you exercise. For some, it’s a matter of dropping them off at the gym’s crèche, or getting childcare while your team plays a match or you go for a run; for others it’s about waiting till the little one is napping, or in bed at night.
For many parents and carers, incorporating exercise into playing with their child is a good way to go. You can read more about ideas for this way to play in the chapter Stay and Play, but if you want to try to get your daily or weekly fix of exercise when you have your child with you, but not necessarily joining in with you, your little one needs to learn to wait while you exercise. With a 10-second set-up or two, you should find they get used to playing independently while you do your thing.
Exercising at home
If you exercise at home – say, doing yoga, Pilates, or dance, for example – and your children are swirling round your legs like puppies but are adamant they don’t want to join in, here are a few 10-second set-ups to distract and happily occupy them until you’ve finished your practice:
Plastic bubble-wrap popping challenge: Few young children can resist the lure of bubble-wrap. Small pieces can be set out like puddles – for leaping and jumping practice; make sure your little one has bare feet and the bubble-wrap is on a non-slip surface or secured to the floor with a little masking tape to keep the fun safe. Larger lengths can be used for marching, crawling, running and rolling practice. The challenge, if required, could be to see if they can pop every single air pocket before you’re finished with your exercise.
Target practice: Challenge your child to scrunch pieces of scrap or newspaper into balls – they’ll need to make at least ten – and then throw them, aiming into an empty waste-paper basket. Of course, the challenge can be made harder by standing further from the target.
Skittles: Sealed plastic bottles, with a little water in them for a bit of weight, make great skittles. Raid your recycling for at least three, and challenge your little one to see how many times they can knock them over and set them up before you’re finished. A small soft sponge ball or beanbag can be the projectile.
Walk the line: Make a couple of masking (painters’) tape lines – one straight, one zigzag, say – on the floor, away from where you’re exercising. That should start up some tight-rope walking, and who knows what else; toys and cars may also become involved. Just let them go with their flow – and you’ll have the space to finish those stretches.
Tracks and runs: If you have a toy train track or a marble run that your little one can make independently, now’s a good time to challenge them to see what they can make by the time you’ve finished your exercise; they’ll love showing you their design when you’re done.
Soft-toy Olympics: While you exercise, challenge your child to find out which of their soft toys is best at running, jumping, rolling, skating and the like, with an athletic competition. Medals could be given at the end – maybe you’ll get one too, for being so good at your particular exercise.
Books about sport or physical activity: Your child may relish a quiet few minutes near you, looking at stories about sport
and exertion, while you finish yours. A couple of our favourite picture books with a sporting theme are:
Ambrose goes for Gold – Tor Freeman
The Tortoise and the Hare – an Aesop fable
Tunnel-time: These cheerfully coloured pop-up tunnels are a good investment – crawling babies love them and toddlers and preschoolers are still drawn to their enclosed, colourful space. They’ll slither and crawl through it again and again, but might also use it as a camp, or involve other toys. Its sudden appearance could intrigue your little one for at least the time you need to exercise, and probably longer.
Toys play Twister: If you have the game Twister (which I highly recommend getting) you can set it out for your little one with a few soft toys as the contestants. Your child can be in charge of the spinner and move the toys to the correct colour spots on the play-mat. They’ll make up the rest of the rules as they go along.
Sustenance
Whether we want to make a cup of tea or have a quick sandwich, finding time for our own sustenance is often a huge challenge for parents of the under-fives. One of my friends told me how she would surreptitiously eat most of her meals and snacks standing in her kitchen, facing away from her kids while they were in their high chairs. She had to hide what she was eating because they would always abandon whatever they were doing, even if it was having something identical, in favour of her food. Another friend’s two-year-old had a serious obsession with kettles for a while; he desperately wanted to open and close the lid and put the kettle on its stand over and over again if he ever got the faintest whiff of anyone wanting a cuppa. It was often easier to just not ever think about having a cup of tea. Some young children are very intrigued for a while with the process of food preparation and, as another mum told me, ‘sometimes, just sometimes, I’d rather they just let me get on with it.’
‘. . . very little ones grabbing at/climbing up your legs, or trying to get in the oven when you open it, or wanting to be carried so you have to do everything with one hand. Bigger little ones demanding food instantly when you are trying to cook it, “but Mum, I want something to eat NOW”! If you give in and do snacks then the cooked food doesn’t get eaten.’
A mum of two, trying to make lunch
Maybe the dream scenario, while food and drink is being prepared and partaken, is for your little one to be – as the French would have it – sage; a word I rather like. By this they mean that children, and very young children at that, are calm and self-controlled around food and at mealtimes – they certainly do not clamber to take your food, or food that’s destined for them but that is not ready yet, nor do they ask for different food. The way in which French parents achieve these dream eating habits and table manners in les enfants is, as you may have guessed, by setting strict rules; there is certainly no pandering to the potential fussy eaters out there. But I can totally see how the sage child, the calm and well-mannered child that waits patiently while food is being prepared, eats when and what they’re given, and allows their parents to do the same, might be something that makes this particular aspect of parenting easier. It’s how to achieve this, though, and that’s the tricky bit. Unless you’re French, of course.
If your child is finding it difficult at mealtimes – is not sage – and is exhibiting unwanted behaviour, then take a look at the chapter Sanity Savers, which might help. If, however, your child can’t find their flow of independent play while you prepare food or drink for yourself or them, try one or two of these 10-second set-ups to help them wait:
Play dough: This is a kitchen basic in my house. It’s such a wonderful way to get young children busy and concentrating at the kitchen table or on a plastic mat on the floor while the grown up cooks. There’s a recipe for homemade play dough – and a batch will last for ages if you keep it in an airtight container. One of the best things about using play dough as a 10-second set-up is that it is so versatile – you can ring the changes in a flash, refreshing children’s interest by offering different things to use with it; from favourite figurines, shells and sticks and rubber stamps, to toy kitchen equipment like plastic cookie-cutters and rolling pins, cupcake cases, buttons and pipe cleaners. The only thing they mustn’t do is eat it.
Empty muffin tins and ice cube trays: These compartmentalised containers are irresistible to young children. Just add pom-poms, favourite mini figurines, toys or play dough and see how the play develops.
Egg boxes and cardboard tubes: These recyclables are brilliant for little ones. Grab what’s to hand from your recycling stash and add some things to hide in the boxes or slide down the tubes, such as small figurines or toy vehicles. Or make a sensory tub for your little one to explore, right before their eyes, by placing the tubes and egg boxes in a large, wide-based box along with some uncooked rice (the rice can be used again and again), some plastic scoops, bowls and a funnel or two.
Pestle and mortar and herbs: We have a wooden pestle and mortar which my two children have loved since they were tiny; it makes them feel very chef-like or scientist-like. Just put out some handfuls of things for them to crush – like herbs from the garden, eggshells, a cracker or a few cornflakes.
Pincer practice: If you have a set of small tongs in your kitchen, or a set of kids’ chopsticks or tweezers, you can entice your child with a challenge to sort pom-poms, uncooked pasta shapes (which you can use again and again), fresh apple skin or carrot peelings – these are great materials for scissor practice too.
What’s in the drawer?: My mum had a drawer in her kitchen which could be easily reached and opened by my two children when they were tots. She realised this, and so always had some wonderful kitchen-y things in there for them to haul out and investigate. If you have a drawer that your little one always delves into, why not make it a ‘magic’ drawer and occasionally change or add to its contents? It could have a range of things inside from wooden spoons, a colander, sieve, and tubs and bowls, to more surprising contents from time to time like:
a few tote bags, cardboard boxes or socks with interesting things inside to investigate
a book or two
a soft toy
stuff for a tea party – a toy tea set, tablecloth and a toy guest or two
a clean metal baking tray, which will be magnetic, plus any magnetic dinosaurs, letters, vehicles or whatever you have to hand
plastic cups, bowls, containers and wooden spoons
Colander and pipe cleaners: This has become a bit of a classic ‘as seen on’ the Pinterest boards of the world – and with good reason. Young children really love posting and weaving pipe cleaners in and out the holes of a colander.
Salt-trays: A little fine table salt goes a long way. Thinly cover a tray with salt, and let your little one make their mark – just as they like (though do keep an eye on them to make sure they don't eat it!). You can add paintbrushes and forks to let them create different marks. A little side-to side shake allows them to start over again. Set them up somewhere where they’re comfortable and can really see into the tray easily – a low table, or the floor (with a wipe-clean tablecloth or play-mat underneath).
Busy bags: What you’ll need to do beforehand: Take a couple of small tote bags or simple drawstring bags and fill them with different things from time to time. The surprise of a new bag appearing is usually a big hit. In the busy bags you could put:
Build-a-meal activity.
What you’ll need to do beforehand: Cut various shapes out of felt to make some
let’s pretend foodstuff – carrots, sausages, cheese, tomatoes, pizza base, ham, bread, broccoli and the like – for some wonderful open-ended dinner-designing. Just provide a plastic plate for the assembling of the meal.
Create a food feast poster. Our local Post Office always stocks loads of stickers, often with food and drink themes, but you can buy them very cheaply online; postage is never much because they’re so light. Invite your little one to create a poster of a feast on some colourful paper using some food and drink stickers. Once made, the poster can be displayed in the kitchen, say, and used for a game where everyone chooses what they would eat at the feast.
Wooden spoon art. Adding colour to a wooden spoon is very satisfying. Provide watercolours, crayons or felt-tips (for older kids) – whatever you think your little one might like best – and a new wooden spoon or two; you can buy them very cheaply at pound shops or online.
Paper plate art. A bag with a paper plate and some crayons, watercolours or pencils inside should inspire your little one to decorate the plate just as they like – there’s no right way of doing it. Dry markers work well on shiny plastic-coated paper plates and are great if you would like to use the same plate a few times. Test which colouring instrument works best on the surface of the paper plates you have first.
Foodie magazine collage.
What you’ll need to do beforehand: Scan freebie supermarket magazines, veggie-box delivery catalogues or food supplements in the weekend press for pictures of food. Cut out and collect these over a few weeks before making up a busy bag with lots of these images, a glue stick and a thin piece of card or a paper plate. Let your little one rip, snip (if they’re confident with scissors), arrange and stick the pictures on the card just as they like.
Jigsaws and puzzles. If your child loves a puzzle, surprise them with a forgotten (or new) puzzle in a busy bag.
What you’ll need to do beforehand: For a foodie theme, try making your own puzzle by finding a cool picture of a ‘showstopper’ cake or any other
wow picture of food. Stick it onto some thin card, and then, on the back with a pencil, mark it up into however many pieces you’d like the puzzle to have – these can be regular or irregular in size and shape; it’s up to you. Cut along the lines and pop the pieces into a busy bag.
Books: Have a special kitchen book basket which occasionally appears to surprise and catch the attention of your little one. You can change the selection of books often to keep it fresh, but here are a few of our food-themed favourites:
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