Exercise

Managed about 30 minutes of exercise on the treadmill at Benefitness. Toddler was in the creche and my exercise was broken into segments due to checking on him regularly (it was his first time). It was difficult to turn off the busy thoughts in my mind whilst exercising - whether Toddler would be OK, and feeling pressure to "hurry up and exercise" because of the limited time. Despite this, I did feel better after exercising - more energetic, relaxed and happy that I did something for myself. I also realized that most of my anxiety was based on my own personal fears of leaving Toddler, when in reality he was fine. I would like to change these thoughts.

Reflecting on this experience I realized that part of my fears are based on the possiblity that he may really not want to be there, and what if he remembers that I left him somewhere, and he is genuinely traumatized by it? I would like to challenge these thoughts as well. My husband suggested that I need to live my life, and that sometimes Toddler is going to have to do things that he doesn't want to. I can see that these comments are catastrophic thinking, and over-thinking of the situation.

Details for the Benefitness creche:

Crèche
Children aged between 6 weeks and school age are well catered for between the hours of 9.00am and 11.30am Monday to Fridays.
The crèche boasts an indoor and outdoor area for the children to enjoy with a large selection of toys and activities.
Three carers are constantly supervising the children so you can relax and enjoy your workout at .

When I used the creche today there were only two carers - Jenny? and Jodie? (unsure of spelling). It costs $2 for any length of time during opening hours. You pay at the Benefitness front desk and they give you a receipt to take into the creche. Inside, you sign in, in the book provided. The children are given informal name tags using masking tape and texta, that are also put on their bags. Jodie encourages parents to leave as soon as possible so the children don't think you are staying. I stayed with Toddler for about 20 minutes to ensure that he was settled in. Note that some of the toys were broken and could pose a safety hazard, and no mention was made for children to wear hats outside.

You can peruse the membership and casual visit fees for Benefitness on their pricing1.pdf

I visited as a casual to Benefitness, so including the creche it was $14. To save money, I could buy a 10 visit pass for $90. Over 10 visits this would save me $30! For a chance to get some time out, and Toddler cared for, $11 per visit (including creche) seems reasonable.