I want to workout, but I have a baby. Now what?
With a little creativity and a willingness to do things differently, you can have an excellent workout and bond with your baby, all at the same time! Working out with your baby is fun, it promotes bonding and it promotes the lifelong health of both of you. Talk to your baby while exercising, describing the movements and now it's also a language activity! Add a fun chant or song and you'll gain their attention and make the activity even more fun for them.
My son loved "exercising with mommy" when he was little. Now that he's older? We're workout buddies! Try using your baby as a weight while squatting, place your baby on your shins and do leg lifts, carry your little one in your arms while doing lunges. Have an older toddler? Fly them on your feet and do leg presses. Practice yoga in the living room while your little one crawls around. Expect the workouts to be different now that baby is involved. Open yourself up to the endless possibilities and enjoy!
To build language skills, use location words such as up/down and on/off, use adjectives to describe movements such as hard/easy and fast/slow, label the body parts that are getting exercised and use fun/interesting sounds to gain their attention, such as "weeeee", "whoa" and "all done"! Noises not only catch your baby's attention, they are so fun and interesting to your child that they may be the first words your baby says!
Of course, the safety of you and your baby always comes first and it's important to speak to a physician before starting a new workout program. Happy, healthy New Year to you!
Do you have exercises you're already doing with your child? Post a comment or a picture to inspire us all to get moving! What are some ways you already incorporate language learning during a workout? Can you think of more?
Here's my little guy at four months old. As I bounced him on my legs (working my abs and quads) I would say "Bouncy, bouncy baby boy. Bouncy, bouncy, boy!" I'd give a little extra oomph to the last bounce and he'd laugh and laugh!
Here he is at 11, still lovin' the "superman fly"! Now it's a great workout for my abs and quads because he's so heavy!
#workouts #languagedevelopemnt #presence #yoga #talkingwithbaby #SLP #SpeechPathology
