Modelling Good Behaviour

As a parent you like to try and set your kids a good example - they should see you being a loving, caring parent and spouse, a diligent and responsible worker, someone who cares for the environment and someone who takes responsibility for their health. Yesterday evening made me feel that I'd done something right.

Saturday evenings are always my evening to walk with my friend Natalie. She lives and works as a teacher at the Gold Coast during the week but on Saturday she drives the hour to Brisbane to work as a receptionist at a car yard. And on Saturday afternoon she comes to my house and we go for a two hour walk and a one hour chat over coffee. (Actually we chat for the whole three hours - we have the problems of the world to solve and that takes time) This Saturday was no different except on our arrival home. The house was very, very quiet and relatively empty. There was only Iven and the dogs to greet us. The boys were nowhere to be seen.

It turns out that Sam was at the gym, Josh had taken himself off for a run and Luke had met a friend to play tennis. All three of my boys were out exercising. Add on to that the fact that Iven had gone for a thirty minute jog that morning while I was out doing my 12k group run. I was a happy mummy last night. All that behaviour-modelling seems to be paying off.

BTW - my morning run went pretty well. It was disgustingly humid again and I'll be REALLY pleased when Summer is over but I survived the run well - 5:38 min/k pace - and recovered well too.