Exercise is a good thing! It can be anything from dancing, walking, playing tag, etc. It’s not like she has her daughter on a hardcore regime.

How about showing the little girl how to play video games and force feeding her pop-tarts?

Exercise is a good thing. I can’t really expound on that any more eloquently.

I may be sarcastic (yep), but I am also sincere. Dara Torres has her daughter’s interest at heart and she is simply teaching her about a healthy lifestyle. I am glad my parents did the same.

As someone who worked out the day I delivered my daugther, I find fault in those of you who are looking to interpret Dara’s quotes for yourselves.
If you are a person who works out prior to pregnancy (and she obviously worked out for years and years), it is dangerous for you to up and stop. Dara did not say that she was swimming at Olympic pace on the day of Tessa’s arrival. She has commented in NUMEROUS interviews following the birth of Tessa that she was most comfortable in the water during her pregnancy because it took the weight off of her legs and knees.
Having met Dara a few times for interviews needed for my job and seeing her out at the park with her daughter, I can truly believe that she is making “exercise” fun for Tessa. We have met at the playgrounds with our children, and Dara and Tessa are running around and laughing.
Trying to read into someone’s comments when there is not a full interview is dangerous. Dara is not saying that she has Tessa out running sprints or doing the stairs. Exercise for a child could be something as simple as a game of tag or chasing balls or even swimming in the pool with Mom.
I find it bizarre that anyone is trying to critique an athlete’s idea of exercise for her child. …..ummmm!?

i don’t think we can really judge on the exercise she did after birth. i mean, she’s an olympian! what is fine for her is probably not fine for everyone else, and she has several doctors monitoring everything she does. and what does “back in the pool” mean anyway? it doesn’t mean, necessarily, that she’s doing a hard workout.

she also doesn’t talk about weight loss. she simply talks about being healthy. i am almost finished with my masters in public health and it is SO important to teach children young that exercise is fun and important. good habits start early.

It’s important to lead a healthy lifestyle and eating well and exercise are part of it. If there was more of that, we wouldn’t have such obese or overweight people and so many overweight children too. I never heard of dara or a fan, but good for her

“exercise was key for Dara, who reveals she “swam the same day I delivered Tessa, before I went into labor!” Not letting any obstacles stand in her way when it comes to staying in shape, Dara — who was back in the pool a week after giving birth — hopes to instill the same healthy choices in her daughter.”

lifting weights and exercising up until a day before you deliver is healthy? And exercising a week after is healthy? I wouldn’t say it is. It cannot possibly be good for your body to start exercising a week after giving birth.

I don’t think it’s healthy to instill the concept of “working out” in your young children, but I do believe it’s absolutely important to teach them about “getting exercise” and being active for the sake of health. For kids, this is about running and playing, not doing intervals on a treadmill or anything like that. Many thin people are still unhealthy, so that isn’t my motivation for encouraging my kids to be active–it’s more about having muscle tone, strong bones and a healthy cardiovascular system. It seems logical to me that teaching your kids about health at an early age may even help to prevent the development of an unhealthy body image later.

I met Dara and her adorable daughter this past weekend at the University of Florida vs. Ole Miss game. Her and Ryan Lochte were being honored (along with other UF student Olympians). She carried Tessa the whole time and I mean, up and down the stadium stairs too! It was adorable! Dara isn’t that skinny in person and her daughter was a pro with cameras! I hope I look that good when I am her age! I got some really great pictures of them!

Louise, I respectfully disagree–I took her comments to mean that she was hoping to show her daughter healthy exercise habits, creating a beginning of a healthy lifestyle. I agree with you that there shouldn’t be rigid exercise programs for a 2.5 year olds, but I don’t think Dara was saying she’d implemented that with Tessa. Just how I interpreted the quotes, though