Convincing Mom to Exercise
Since the day you were born, you’ve never won a debate with your mom. It didn’t work when you wanted that G.I. Joe. It didn’t work when you wanted to take a late night ride in Tommy Lombardo’s Corvette. And it didn’t work when you thought replacing your bedroom door with a bead curtain was a good idea.
But convincing mom to hit the gym is a fight you have to win. And here’s all the ammunition you’ll need to counter her arguments.
[EDITOR: This intro and the following 6 arguments are from a blog article at Healthways FIT. For more on each of these you’ll need to follow the link. After the list is a comment I posted with my suggestion. Feel free to add yours as a comment below.]
- Exercise at night makes it hard to sleep
- Weights might injure my joints
- Exercise messes up my hair
- A gym membership is too expensive
- Group class schedules are too restrictive
- I’m too old for the gym
My added suggestion
7. Appeal to Her Selflessness
If your arguments about better health & energy and less pain now and in future years aren’t enough, appeal to her nurturing nature and concern for her children and grand kids. Talk about how her actions can help save the family estate (your inheritance) or help keep you out of the poor house, because that’s where you may otherwise be heading.
Discuss future living arrangements, when she wants to move into a nursing home, how long she wants to live there, and how she wants to eventually die. Discuss aging-in-place as an option, since that’s what 90% of seniors want! but tell her about the growing economic cost of unpaid family caregiving. AARP already puts that at over $450 billion/year, which is higher than Medicaid and approaching Medicare.
Will she expect you to be the caregiver? Will you need to defer your vacations, promotions, or other opportunities? What will be the impacts on YOUR health, and possibly your marriage, and is she okay with that? If she’s not really concerned about her own well being, then may talking about yours will work.
