We even inspired the youngest child to do the workouts with us!

Well, it appears that my oldest daughter, Kailey, might actually be more disciplined than I thought.   At the beginning of the summer, my daughter expressed an interest in archery.  My husband took her to the store to check out bows.  It didn’t take long for my daughter to realize that archery wasn’t going to be an option if she couldn’t even pull the string back.  Yep, it seems that a bit of upper body strength is necessary for archery.

The summer quickly came and went.  We continued to remind Kailey that she should do some push-ups every day in order to build that upper body strength.  Yet, we were not insistent and she was not motivated.  I finally decided that it was time for a bit of structure (since all kids seem to thrive on structure… duh!).  I know that I can’t run marathons without a training plan.  Kailey just needed some guidance to get moving in the right direction.

After I finally got my act together, I decided to create a calendar of exercises for the entire month of September.  Every day I listed 3-4 exercises of 10-20 reps each.  The entire month was filled with workouts.   Each time we completed the daily workout we marked the day with a star.  Each day needed 2 stars (one for her and one for me) in order to be a success.

The month started off with me reminding her to get the workouts done.  Eventually life got in the way (as it always does).  I would have to go to work in the evening and my daughter would be left with the responsibility of completing the workouts on her own.  When I came home I was surprised to see a star marked for that day on the calendar.  Sometimes we would complete the workouts together and other times we would have to do it on our own.

My real hiccup came when I injured my knee.  I wish I knew exactly what I did to my knee, but I still don’t have that figured out.  I couldn’t bend it without pain so squats, burpees and mountain climbers became difficult.  I was pretty much useless.  However, my daughter kept on going.  She told me that I could make up the days when I felt better.  In the end, I tried to make up those days, but she had me beat.  She completed all 30 days of the challenge!

As a reward for her efforts I took her out to breakfast.  Just her and I… a mother/daughter morning out on the town.  She seemed especially pleased with herself and I must admit that I was pretty proud.  The next day she suggested that we continue the challenge into October.  However, I have been the motivation buster since I have not written up the new workout plan yet.  Maybe I should let her give that a try since she seems to be more disciplined than I am at the moment….