Today I’m gonna be sharing something new that my family has been doing - the Mile-a-Day challenge!

So I’ve gotta be honest...it all started when I made my daughter run as punishment.  One mile a day for a month.

Yes, you read that correctly.  Our daughter had lied to us and because that requires discipline in our house, we chose to make her run as her as a consequence.  

We set up a running plan of 45 seconds of walking, 45 seconds of running and repeat until we hit our family goal of one mile. I know, you’re probably thinking: “Wait, I thought you said it was your daughter’s punishment?”  It was, but it we knew that it wouldn’t hurt Brody, the 5 year old, to join us. So in the evenings, since I can’t leave him at home alone, all three of us would go for our mile run.

When we were teaching our kids understand a mile, and the increments of it, we actually ended up framing a mile as “$1.00” and each quarter of a mile as a quarter, $.25 (you see where I’m going!) It worked great to explain the concept to them and they picked it up super quickly!

When we first started, she didn’t like this punishment AT ALL! But we as mamas know that punishment isn’t supposed to be “fun.”  We don’t give them something they will enjoy, but do our best to give our kids things that give them time to think, reflect, and hopefully better themselves in the long run.

To encourage her on this journey, I suggested that she write down how long it took her to complete her mile. She did this, and every day she got better and better! She was starting to smile while we ran and not cry anymore. Her punishment was turning into an activity where she pushed herself and was proud of her accomplishments.

Even though it started as something to learn a lesson, our family runs started to become a routine that we all looked forward to every day! My husband, Clint would join in on the fun too!  Our #mileaday had become our special time together.

It became 14 minutes a day that I could show Ava that she could do anything she set her mind to.  That with discipline, the right heart and mindset, my little girl could do ANYTHING. What started as punishment, turned into one of my favorite parts of the day to either spend quality time with Ava or the whole family doing something that will make us healthier and do something together.

Although her “sentence” is over, we are continuing the mile a day runs throughout the summer.  We aren’t as strict as we were, but shoot for 4-5 days a week that we are getting in that mile and continuing to improve ourselves and take care of our bodies.

Mama, I want to encourage you today. Sometimes it’s no fun to do things like this in your family...but a mamas gotta do what a mamas gotta do! YOU are the building block and the cornerstone of your family.  What you do sets the tone for your family. Whether that is setting the example of taking care of you, respecting and loving your body as God made it, your kids are watching you! Sometimes, you have to be “mean” and make them do something they don’t want to, but ultimately you are training your children in the ways of the Lord so that when they are older they can be a light, have that self-confidence in knowing who they are, and live fearlessly for their Savior!