Being a Healthy—and Sometimes Muddy—Role Model for My Kids

My little spectator remembers me being a healthy role model when I did my latest mud run!

Seeing that it’s Love Yo’Self Week here on FBG, I thought it would be fun to talk about an added perk to loving yourself and treating yourself right with exercise and healthy eats: giving your family a healthy role model to look up to. As I’ve learned being a mom, it’s funny what 2-year-olds remember.

They’ll “forget” that they’re not supposed to hit their younger sibling, but then they’ll remember relatives who visited months ago. They’ll forget to use the potty, but remember the kid at the gym daycare they met once while using the potty there. My daughter will forget that tearing books is a no-no, but her memory when it comes to my being fit is stellar. Being a healthy role model for my kids? It’s working.

As you know, I ran a mud run race back in September and brought my family along for the ride. My being all muddy made quite the impression on my daughter. Just the other day, months after the event, I heard her telling her grandma that “Mommy got all dirty…needs to wash her face,” and I knew exactly what she was referring to. She’ll also refer to “all the people running.” She was “helping” me fold laundry the other day and we came across the shirt I got for participating in the Rock ‘n’ Roll 10K. “Mommy wears this to the gym.” I was blown away. She even knows that I  have specific clothes for exercise!

Continue reading on how motivating it can be to be a role model… —Erin