Exercising My Parental Rights

Nancy’s son turned 22 this week.  How did she get old enough to have a son who is 22?

He was a challenging child.  So smart and so funny…but not easy, especially as a teenager.  How did we get this boy to the age of 22 without killing him?  What saved us?  The YMCA.  We started going to the Y when he was about 14.  He was interested in gaining muscles and I was interested in losing weight.  We kept each other motivated.  On days when one of us didn’t feel like going, we could usually count on the other one to say, “Come on, please?” and we would end up working out and being glad of it.  I wouldn’t be where I am now on my path to fitness without his encouragement – there were a lot of days I wouldn’t have gone if he hadn’t made me.

For all you parents out there who are having a hard time finding a way to connect with your kids during the teenage years, this did it for us.  No matter how angry he was at me or I was at him, no matter if he was grounded or I had gotten a phone call from the school or he was just in a bad mood and “didn’t want to talk about it,” something happened when we got to the Y.  We would get that first set or two in on the bench press and some small comment or praise would break the ice and we would be talking.  It never failed. What a motivator for working out!  Keep in mind that once we left the gym for the day we were right back where we started.  But at least for that one hour he would talk to me, and that kept us connected all through those rough teenage years.

Now here we are, eight years later, and he’s no longer a challenging teen.  He has turned out to be someone who gives me a lot of joy and makes me laugh.  We still meet at the gym several times a week.  He doesn’t let me spot him anymore, because he can now lift weights that are heavier than my body weight.  That job goes to his buddies at the gym.  But I will be forever thankful that we found the YMCA when we did!