How Being a Parent has kept me fit

I have never travelled so much and walked so much since becoming a mum. My son loves to visit different places and so like today we walked from London Victoria to London Bridge and thankful for the legs I have been given and for my son, because he keeps me fit. 

The one thing I noticed about visiting London was how miserable everyone seemed. Has the sense of humour gone? In Epsom people will say good morning and apart from a coach driver, noone seemed that they cared that you let them pass and got out of their way when running and I always acknowledge if someone has allowed me to pass and it just not as friendly as it used to be.

However it was good and went a different route we've not been and it was nice to just walk and we had a empty train back and it was a really good morning walk and looking forward to more. We walked around Guildford on Monday, Tuesday we walked into town, via the bus route and tomorrow we are off to play tennis. 

I love spending time doing the things we both love. It is good to continue to bond and I like that he enjoys walking. He can often pretend to be a bus or a train and he was getting annoyed with me continuing to take photos but I never get sick of London, I just wish people would be happier and on the train this morning everyone would be engrossed in their laptops and phones. 

So I thought I'd just enjoyed the journey and not be on my phone all the way. 

My son likes to spot other trains and we will guess where they're going and the buses we see as we explore and take away the length of the walks we do. 

As a baby he loved the motion of a train or bus and when walking with him and running in his pushchair. He loved being out and going on walks. I feel its just come a part of his life to be out and explore. He loved seeing me and his dad workout he would join in. I like that he likes to walk but often his choices can be a bit of extreme. Walking from London Waterloo to Epsom. 

We have done Epsom to Kingston, Epsom Morden and walked from London Waterloo to Fulham Broadway which is a fair distance. I would like to continue. I have always walked. My dad would walk a lot and my mum and I did the Thames Walk, 25K but now my son is here I am still walking and its better than being in all the time. I am doing a squats challenge in August. It is 100 squats a day for Cancer Research: https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/carries-giving-page-23102806

I am doing it because I haven't done a challenge for a long time and it came up on my Instagram and thought okay I can do that and my son is like my coach. I'd like to do a fundraiser with Henry at some point. There were parts of London that was new. I would like to book a week off and walk when Henry is at school because he didn't want to walk through the parks on route and walk outside them and there are some little gardens along the route we took.

Next week we are off to St Albans and looking forward to it. 

I do have a Parenting blog and doing Summer Holiday series so check out this recent post: https://theparentingadventurestipsandtricks.wordpress.com/2026/07/21/letting-someone-else-make-arrangements/

I will be sharing our walks and things we are doing in the summer on my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Carriechalloner

Many thanks for reading, 

Carrie X 

It doesn't matter about the time you have

I exercise at home for about 10 minutes doing different types. Leg raises, squats, jogging on the spot and weights and I do still feel the benefits. 

Time is not important it is what you put in and there are APPs where you can do 7 minute workouts and I will move to music and dance. I will raise my heals. It helps the strength in my legs and can be as simple as that. 

Also it is dependent on the reason. I want to strengthen my legs as I love walking and want to get back into running again and would want to get back doing my Sunday run as I really enjoyed it and in August I am going to be doing 100 squats a day for Cancer research. So will post my page where you can sponsor me should you wish to in another blog and I am looking to get back to doing fundraising walks and runs. 

This so be a good way of getting back into it and it will be tough but looking forward to it and so will be continuing to do my walks, start practicing and thought I start now and going to really train for it and see how it goes and see how much money I can raise and perhaps do it in the morning and I do a lot of training when in bed too. I will stretch and do leg raises and  I do have a mat but the flooring is wood and I can trouble so a soft service for me is better. 

I even exercise on the sofa and even on a chair. I did a workout that Davina McCall did and it was using a chair and it was really hard and still got a good workout so you don't need that much equipment. I love a mat and would like to do more floor workouts, but I like standing and dancing whilst I wait for my son to come home from school. 

Also it is the weather. We have had a huge heatwave in England and I have been sweating a lot and so doing short workout is good but also time of day. I am not good a working out when it is super cold but not too hot either and why I love doing my morning walks. I enjoy it so much. 

I wouldn't change it. I love where I live due to my morning walks and realised how lucky I am and not feeling sorry for myself any more. Noticing what I have around me and what my body can do when it wants to get stronger and my mind too. I am lot more positive about things and just would like to run on a Sunday morning too to add to my fitness but been a while so taking it one step at a time.

Check this video I did: https://youtu.be/YMmlsGjUCFY

Have a good week all. 

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X