Sam Cam, Jools Oliver etc - how do they fit exercise and beauty stuff in

[Luckytohavemybaby]

Do they get lots of help? Wondering if they do their running and work outs at 5am as they seem quite hands on mums.

But novice presumably you are working full time as well so your help enables you to have a career, nobody has an issue with that .

Samantha Cameron seems to work very flexible i.e bugger all hours and Jools Oliver doesn't really have a job, so her husband's earnings afford her the luxury of a nanny when she doesn't need one.

Stilllovingmysleep - I do out-source my childcare. But both OH and I work, so we don't have much free time.

Novice - I hope my post didn't come across as saying that people with help don't raise their children. I think when you have money, you can afford to get help to lighten the load.

Personally, if I had the money, I'd get a housekeeper/nanny to make my life easier and there's nothing wrong with that.

novice there's no need to feel insulted - nobody said that people with nannies or housekeepers don't raise their kids, just that having help makes it easier to take time for yourself. And your post kind of proves it - you are able to exercise and take your time in the shower etc because your nanny is getting the kids ready and getting breakfast. Someone without domestic help wouldn't be able to do that.

Who said that paid childcare means you're not raising your children? Also - having someone else to get your children's breakfast and get them ready for school is a massive help in the morning - that's one of the hardest parts of that couple of hours. Paid help is what provides the time to exercise/beautify yourself. Not having to be at your desk for 8.30 after a long commute also helps massively too.

Novice where has anyone said people with Nannys don't bring up their own children?

As Sans says, your post describes exactly what everyone has been saying - having a nanny means you can concentrate on yourself while the nanny looks after the dc.

It is far easier to fit this kind of stuff in if you have help with your dc.

When I worked full time with 3 DC I had a (live out) nanny. I didn't realise how it freed up time for me (outside of working hours) until I gave up work and was at home with a baby, a 2 year old and had a 10 year old at school. Suddenly, I couldn't even get to the dentist or a doctors appointment for myself without asking someone to look after the DC. I'd had taken for granted that the paid help had afforded me some freedom and extra time to use flexibly as I wanted. Those early years were hard although it was my choice to be at home at that point in my life and the right thing for us. I have to admit that I did very little exercise during that time and I expect it showed!

I've seen Jools at a 6am exercise class I go. Many times. They live in Hampstead and the class is a good 20 min drive from there. So she must be up at 5ish.

She'll be home by 7.30 so perhaps her husband gets the kids up and then she takes over / does the school run.

No soot they don't have to. What you are saying applies to you- but not necessarily everyone else. All you are doing is describing a totally negative mindset re. exercise. Most people could if they want to fit in 30 mins exercise a day- whether that's a run, jumping about to a DVD in the lounge, finding time when the DCs are at nursery or playgroup, etc.

It's not hard to fit exercise in if you have a personal trainer.

Yes - but exercise is much, much harder if you are up early for a long commute to a desk bound job, followed by the childcare pick up, dinner, homework, housework, voluntary work and so on. Rather than adding daily exercise into that (which makes me resent it and I find I give up) I set myself targets that fit MY life - I couldn't give a hoot if anyone thinks that's negative.

Sure, but Sam Cam and Jools O aren't up early for a long commute etc.

People in the public eye are expected to adhere to ever higher standards of personal care and grooming. These things take time and organisation!

Most people could if they want to fit in 30 mins exercise a day- whether that's a run, jumping about to a DVD in the lounge, finding time when the DCs are at nursery or playgroup, etc.

What SirChenjin said. And Rosebag. There ARE times of one's life when it's extremely hard to 'fit in' exercise - and one is mainly pretty damn exhausting.

I can leave my kids in the morning and go and run. I couldn't do that when they were smaller. And I don't have to be at my desk till 8.30 and I work from home. All those things make it much, much easier than if I had to drop off toddlers and then head across town to an office and then come home via pickup. Yes, theoretically at that point - or rather after tea, and baths, and bedtime, and so forth - one can 'fit in' 30 minutes. In practice one tends to fit in a glass of wine and a gory thriller.

MI

It's all about motivation. Exercise can consist of running up and down the stairs 50 times, or using the bottom stair for step exercises, you can do push ups and abdo exercises in the house while your toddler is playing or watching TV or whatever. If you work all day you can fit in a brisk walk at lunchtime or do 30s mins at home once the DCs are in bed.
Al we have here are excuses, not actually thinking how exercise can be fitted in.

And indeed what Bonsoir said

My point is that actually with a lot of jobs one is working flat out. And that 'doing 30 mins at home' is not wildly attractive and/or feasible. Quite apart from the fact that 30 minutes' walking is not in fact much exercise at all. And I am not entirely convinced that 30 minutes at home is particularly accommodating of exercise either - I've always been bewildered by people who can exercise in front of a DVD without contorting themselves into weird positions.

I'm not 'making excuses'. I spend quite a bit of my day job writing exhortatory features about the importance of exercise. I do, in fact, exercise. I even managed to exercise when my children were small. But I was aware that I had some slots in my day that made this possible - that I worked from home, that I had to take and drop them off, that my partner got in from work at a time when I could get out one or two evenings a week and so on. Whenever I've talked to personal trainers about this they've said that yes, that period of parenting - hard-pressed, exhausted, stressed-out - is a specific and difficult one to accommodate in terms of exercise.

And that's also from my privileged middle-class existence of living in a house with stairs, dammit. Which yes I could run up and down 50 times. If I really felt like it. Oddly enough, after a long day with kids the idea did seem less than madly appealing.

Also if I was any of them I would make sure I had done some exercise/make up as every time they are photographed there are comments about what they look like (good or not). I am absolutely sure that if I was under that sort of scrutiny I would do a damn sight more exercise than I do!

And the point is that childcare gives you more slots to choose from. Particularly childcare when you are not always using it to work.

Sure, I could do a 30 minute DVD. But I have a baby and my only window would be when the kids are in bed. Which is when I run around cleaning, washing etc before watching an hour of telly and collapsing into bed.

I could go for a run at the weekend, but I want to see my husband and, quite frankly, one run a week is such a negligible fitness difference I can't be arsed. I do walk a lot, but that's it at the moment.

If I had a nanny (and I very much doubt it is Jamie Oliver at home doing every morning given how much he travels and that he has also given interviews about exercise first thing ) I would have windows of time. I could pick from a number of those windows and choose a time I felt motivated to exercise.

Yes, anything is possible if exercise is your highest priority. For most people it is not, but if it was a bit easier to fit in they would do more of it.

As I said in my first post, yes I am fortunate to have help at home, and yes that means the luxury of 30 mins to shower, get dressed and do make up in the morning. I know it's hard work because the 2 days a week I do have to get the kids out of the door indicates I would be one damned stressed bunny the other 5 days if I had to do those too.

The point I was making was that yes a housekeeper is brilliant but most people I know outsource the grunt stuff to them. So, yes, I would rather do 30 mins of exercise while my dcs are asleep. than make porridge or pancakes as err the quality time that I am prioritising is when they're awake and we come down and eat the breakfast together as a family.

As for a PT, I had one 5 years ago but not any more, as I don't have any time!

Exercise for me is a priority, when I have stopped exercising during periods of fatigue, I have found that didn't help and that getting up earlier to do a little bit of exercise, actually made me feel better overall.

Finally, yes dh and I work full time hence the help at home but I see marriage as a partnership so even if I didn't work and still wanted help at home, dh's money is my money too, and I would happily still have our housekeeper and cleaner without feeling I couldn't do so because I didn't bring money in.

Novice - you do recognise that your last paragraph is well outside the financial means of most families?

Goodness, lots of ill-feeling on this thread.

Fitting in exercise is really, really hard. I work four days a week, and also have another job I do at home in the evenings. I have two school-age children who go to a childminder. I am constantly juggling things so I can exercise. For example, today my husband was on an early shift at work so I couldn't run at 6am as I sometimes do because he left at 5am. I have to get a birthday present for a friend at lunchtime, so I can't swim then. So I'll have to run this evening when I get home about 7pm-ish. So I'll rely on my husband to do baths and stories and go out for half an hour, and be home to give my kids a cuddle, then make dinner.

In no way is it easy. It's a massive added stress to an already stressful life. But ironically it makes me feel more able to deal with that stress.

Penguin I really don't understand your time management.

You have a baby- okay- so errrr.....does your baby never sleep? Does your baby need not sit and play?

I fitted in cleaning and washing during the day when DCs were small- not in the evening.

And out of 48 hours at a weekend it should be possible to find 2 x 30 min slots for a run or whatever- and plenty of time left for other people.

Exercise needs to be a priority for everyone and the best role model for children is to see their parents doing some.

Bless you novice, you don't need to be defensive. But you are coming from such a privileged position it is hard to see how the way you work things is relevant to most!

I am off to start a thread somewhere about exercise post c-section. I am still very sore three weeks on, but am growing increasingly frustrated about my inability to walk up the stairs without getting out of breath, and my sore arms after washing dishes! I need to find some suitable exercise I can do without hurting my poor middle, before my bum and waist are just one big doughy lump.

My beautiful baby pretty much just sleeps all day shame about night time so I have plenty of time while my other is at preschool to do something. Or just lie in bed MNing and drinking tea