Andrea and I went for a long walk today, but it didn't start off well. She didn't want to go and kept making up excuses like: I'm hot, I left my running shoes at school and I'm still coughing too much. But after nagging her enough about it she finally put on some decent shoes and walked out the door with me.
We talked quite a bit about the importance of exercising. I brought up the video I made her and her brother watch, 23-1/2 hours and asked if she learned anything from it. I mentioned Ronnie Sharpe and reminded her of the blog I had her read out loud about the importance of keeping up with exercise. I reminded her of Jerry Cahill and the video of him I made her watch almost a year ago, I was talking and stating facts and blah, blah, blah, when she finally piped up and said...
"I know this sounds bad, but I almost feel like I have to get really sick to know what it feels like and then I'll do more...like exercise."
Yep, my soon-to-be 16 year old spoke the truth and I just about up-chucked my lunch. It truly was a punch in the gut! I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I didn't get mad and start yelling, I calmly told her how very sad that made me feel. But it lead to talking more and more about exercising and reminding her that she has been sick, just not in-the-hospital-sick. I told her to take the sickness she has had and multiply it by 100 or more and asked if she really wanted to go there. There was silence and she never did answer me. What did happen was she started thinking of ways she could get exercise in as a daily routine.
By the time we got to our destination and some more encouragement from me she had come up with 2-3 ways to get in a workout so she can start preparing for the cross-country season that will start at the end of summer. I also told her I would do ANYTHING to help her and that actually made her feel better. She even came up with something we could do together, and that made me feel like the queen of the world!
Now, if we can only make her words become reality...
that'll be for another blog.
I'm cheering you both on...from waaay over here. I wish I could tele-transport and do it in person.
ReplyDeleteYeah!!! Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteDale is still with his fitness program at work. We're taking ballroom dancing/swing classes, what a workout that is!
Rowe, I'm going to make Andrea watch some of your husbands videos. I'm hoping the more people she sees that I "know" :) the more she'll see that it's just not mom pushing. Plus it helps me as well as I've struggled with my weight my entire life and I don't care for exercising but make myself do it.
ReplyDeleteDonna, thanks and way to go to Dale. My 90-day challenge ended a week ago. I lost 10 lbs and lost 7-1/2 inches over all. Not too shabby. But still have a looooong way to go. That's awesome you're taking dance classes.