On Friday I went to my first Zumba class since pre-pregnancy. I’ve been wanting to go for a while but I kept putting it off. The Zumba instructor that I like has classes on Tuesday and Friday evenings. Not the most ideal times from me and baby Joy Chaser’s schedules. So, I’d have to get a babysitter in order to go to the class. I prefer to save my baby-sitting request for “important occasions”.
Every week I’d think about going to Zuba and every week I wouldn’t go. What made this week different was that the social worker at my son’s day care told me to go. Okay technically she didn’t tell me to go but that was my takeaway from the conversation we had. Once a month to daycare holds a lunch time meeting with the social worker to discuss general parenting issues. I like to attend to become more familiar with the staff at the daycare including the social worker and to also benefit from any parenting tips she or other parents in attendance have to offer.
At the meeting on Wednesday the social worker talked about the importance of parents taking care of themselves not only for their own sake but also for the sake of their children. She said having your children see you taking care of yourself teaches them how to treat you as they grow and mature. There are a lot of incentives for self-care one of which is to teach people how to treat you. It never occurred to me that practicing healthy self-care would also teach my son how to treat me. After that meeting I decided to ask my niece to babysit so that I could go to Zumba.
Zumba is not easy. It is a hard workout. The instructor that I like does not stop at all during the class so it’s a full hour of bouncing and jumping around to music. But it is fun! I like the dancing around. I like the music. The choreographed routines keep my mind on the steps as opposed to staring at the clock. It’s really a great workout for me. I had really missed going. I always feel happier after. Zumba is definitely self care for me.
I’m really happy I got to go on Friday. I’m hoping to get there at least once a month depending on babysitting availability. I’m grateful that the social worker reminded me that baby Joy Chaser is always watching and that I will heavily influenced his thoughts and habits related to self care.
What do you do for self-care? How are you demonstrating sef-care for your children?
