Mother's Day, motherhood and exercising with your children

Today is Mother’s Day, that one 24 hours a year when we are all encouraged to take the time to stop and appreciate the hard work of the nation’s mums.

The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) know just how vital the role of supporters, such as parents, play in helping disabled people to be more active.

Our own research, Supporting Me to Be Active, shows the impact supporters can have on disabled people’s participation. Key to their influence is the relationship the supporter has with the disabled person.

And who is a better example of a supporter than a mother?

Below, Clare Chilton from London discusses the challenges that being deaf poses to motherhood, and how she is so determined her daughter will enjoy a happy and active lifestyle that they exercise together in the local park.

From all of us at EFDS, Happy Mother’s Day!

Clare’s story:

I tend to run around a park in Oval in London. I run with my little daughter Amber, who will be four in August.

I enjoy running and swimming. I am from South Africa originally, and South Africans strongly believe in sport – it’s central to the culture. Swimming was always my main sport, though I also ran for my school.

Running helps with my emotions – if I am feeling busy or stressed it helps, and of course it’s great for your physical health.

Amber runs, has started swimming, enjoys ballet and one day at the weekend we’ll go out for a long walk. She loves physical activity, so I don’t need to encourage her much. She has a couple of pairs of different-coloured running shoes that she’s really excited about!

In a way I’m a role model as her mother, and obviously as a parent I am also encouraging and supporting her with her physical activity. It’s so good for Amber to see me as an adult exercising and being healthy.

Amber is much happier after exercising. She’s clearly healthy too, being outside in the fresh air running around. She sleeps very well, and her behaviour is better as a result. She rarely has tantrums or anything, and I put that down to her exercising outdoors.

"As a disabled parent there are some difficult situations"

Amber can hear, and I wasn’t born with a hearing impairment but acquired it after having meningitis. Amber is bilingual as a result of having deaf parents. When she is with us she uses sign language, but if hearing people are in the room then she talks to them.

She can play equally well with children with and without hearing impairments, which is just great to watch.

As a disabled parent there are some difficult situations. Amber attends a hearing nursery, so when I collect her at the end of the day I am the only parent who is deaf. Communicating can be a real challenge for me in a situation like that – they can’t sign, I can’t speak.

And in Amber’s ballet classes I find it quite tricky because she has a coach and I like to know what it is she is doing, what she is preparing for.

There are lots of benefits to running together with your daughter. It’s quality time together, and as I’m a stressed-out working mum, being able to look at and communicate with my little girl is wonderful.

"I think sport is so important for my daughter"

We run twice a week together. I try to run a bit, walk a bit, stop and chat, look at the birds in the trees. She really enjoys that.

We’ll walk then run again, and in fact Amber can get quite competitive – that’s probably from me! If I’m in front of her she gets upset, she has to be in front! So I let her win and then congratulate her.

When we finish I always make sure Amber has a reward – I’ll have a coffee and she’ll enjoy a hot chocolate. We sit down and have a chat, and that is one of the best things.

I think sport is so important for my daughter, and I hope it will continue to be so in the future. I want Amber to enjoy sport, to love it. That is more important to me than the competitive side of it all.

I would like to see more mothers trying to make quality time with their children. Get out of the house, get into the fresh air and spend time with your children, running or whatever.

Even if you can only spend an hour, go outside and use the opportunity, because in the blink of an eye they will be grown-up and gone. Be proactive and spend quality time out in the fresh air.

Clare and Amber form part of the This Girl Can Run community, part of the This Girl Can campaign. Read more This Girl Can stories on this website, or visit the official site. UK Deaf Sport encourages people who are deaf or hard of hearing to participate, enjoy and excel at sport.