DH going to the gym on Christmas Day!

[Wifetobe21]

For about 1.5 hours mid morning. A couple of his mates usually go and have roped him in.

He is into his fitness but surely people can give it a miss for one bloody day?!

Affair partner?

No, that's not what I said.

I said it's claustrophobic to expect entire families to spend 15+ hours together just because it's Christmas Day. It's entirely normal (and healthy) to want to take some time out for yourself - for a run, to go to the gym, to have a bath, to read a book, to take a nap - whatever it may be.

I was raised in a family where taking time for yourself was very much valued, no matter what day of the year it is. Not everyone feels the need to spend all their waking hours in the company of other people!

And that's the bingo card completed...

Exactly. I find MN has a weird obsession with "family time", especially at this time of year. I'm just eternally glad I wasn't raised like that!

Take an hour and half for yourself at some point in the day too. Christmas can be quite overwhelming and stressful for some people, both of you having a little break will probably make the day more enjoyable.

I think those posters likely see very little of their children throughout the year, so they need one day to somehow make up for the previous year of not spending a lot of time with them.

Yes, possibly!

Christmas Day was just a normal day in our house, both my parents worked for the NHS so often one (or both) went into work at some point. My dad would go for a run, my mum would take herself off for a bath, and I often went off to play the latest video game or to read a new book.

The idea of spending every waking minute socialising or doing "family stuff" makes me feel slightly panicky, haha.

Always seems quite performative to me.

I assume you are not married to Daley Thompson

Agreed. In fact, I would go a step further and think that those who feel the need to talk about being with their kids 24/7 and berate anyone who is not 'enjoying every minute' is performance parenting and saying what they think they ought to feel.
No one - no one - wants to be with their children all-day, every-day, regardless of the current 'family time' rhetoric.
'Poor children' is one of those passive aggressive MN things - judgement, sanctimony and holier-than-thou wrapped up in concern for children the poster does not know and who really don't need her sympathy

@Eyeshadow

just in the house cooped up for the full day, yeah, I would imagine a lot of people do, and it doesn’t make them bad parents or their children “poor”…

What's performative about going to the gym with your friends for a bit?

In Scotland the pure gyms and I believe the gym groups are staffed on Christmas day and new years day

I certainly worked Christmas day when I worked for pure gym

It's the Christmas Day bit....

I always think it's a bit try hard, hey look at me, I'm such a dedicated athlete I even train on Christmas day.. that vibe.

Just my opinion that's all

Our PureGym is closed at 4pm Christmas Eve until 8am Boxing Day. It must depend on the individual gyms. Are they a franchise?

If you can’t stand being with your kids or even your partner for 15 hours then there’s something wrong with you.

Unfortunately it sounds as though you were raised with your parents feeling claustrophobic around you if they spent a day with you and so it’s not entirely your fault but it’s still sad that you grew up thinking that’s normal.

It’s not claustrophobic to spend 1 day with your kids.
Most single parents do this every weekend.

Or it's just someone doing something that makes them happy for a bit?

My dad always went for a run on Christmas Day - because he ran everyday so the fact that it was Christmas made no difference to him. It was just his routine.

Who said anything about being cooped up in the house?

Why not go for a walk with the kids?

You’re agreeing that it’s claustrophobic for a parent to be ‘cooped up in the house all day’ so they should go out without the kids - yet it’s apparently ok for the kids to stay in the house all day whilst you go out??

Just go out all together.
I’m sure the kids will enjoy it too.

I always buy my DC something to play with outside and it’s sort of the tradition to go out and kick the football in the park, take the bike out, fly the drone on the moors etc.

Surely we can move away from the notion that it's always women that do all the prepping and the cooking?

I don't eat my main meal on Christmas day until around 5pm

I don't cook either - my family get a takeaway

Why would it be unheard of for a woman to "swan off" to the gym on Christmas day - why shouldn't they. It's 2025. Women shouldn't need to viewed as having to do everything around the house. Prepping chopping, hosting, tidying?

Some families will do all the prepping the night before. Will have already tidied

You're very quick to insult and criticise people who do things differently to you.

As for there being something "wrong with me" - I have autism and struggle a huge amount in social situations. I need space and time to myself everyday if I want to prevent a meltdown or over-stimulation.

But by all means, carry on being and offensive and making assumptions if it makes you feel better :)

Loads of gyms are open 24/7 with keycodes/cards to let members in.

Some people train as I said earlier because they don't celebrate Christmas. Others will do it for different reasons - is it any different from training on Christmas Eve? Im probably not going to train on Christmas Eve this year and I am a PT.

It's got nothing to do with being a "try hard" - it's just maintaining a routine for me at times when I have trained on Christmas eve

And some of us (well, me, anyway) think it's very narrow minded to assume family time together on Christmas Day, with a very young child, is of lesser importance because said child is too young to conceptualise Christmas.

Fair enough. I do the same but at 6am before the rest of the family get up.

He's going out for 90 minutes. He's not going on a lads holiday to Majorca

Or maybe he spends plenty of time with his child anyway and doesn't see how going to the gym for 90 minutes on the 25th of December is any different from going on the 25th of May or the 25th of September?

For many people, families with children included, Christmas Day is just another day.