As parents we constantly question ourselves, are we doing the right thing, are we doing enough, are we setting a good example, are we letting them make their own mistakes, are we letting them be independent?
Well, we do the best we can as parents, being responsible for another human being isn't easy. As we are focusing on the issue of the moment - school, academics, friends, sickness, behavior, we most often forget to think about our child's food habits....
As they grow older, we unmindfully reward them with junk food and chemical filled soda, serve oily preservative and sugar filled faux food at their birthday parties and not so surprisingly, our children come to associate this junk with being happy and having a good time! Slowly its just easier to get our kids to smile and make peace, by ordering in or having a quick meal at a fast food place - more processed junk! And we wonder, why our kids are over weight or obese? We are the reason for it!
As adults we find it difficult to be disciplined about food and exercise, and we not only lead by example but set our children up on a road to ill health and obesity and a life time of lifestyle diseases.
We are the parents, we need to take responsibility, change our lifestyles first, so we can preach what we practice. If we serve home cooked, nutritious meals, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds and our kids see us enjoying them, they would come to enjoy it too. Family outings should be about bonding and spending time with each other, whether it's cooking and eating together or playing board games or making music or more physical activities like hiking, gardening or running....
Children learn more from us than we can imagine, they look up to us to see how we react to and solve our problems, if weight is a stressful topic and it's all about starvation diets and reward bingeing, they will emulate us!
We have to make food about nourishment, energy and health and not about instant gratification, craving and excesses.
We have a choice, to make our children healthy, fit, disease free or to continue on this destructive path which will lead to allergies, early puberty, diabetes, cholesterol, heart conditions...
Well, we do the best we can as parents, being responsible for another human being isn't easy. As we are focusing on the issue of the moment - school, academics, friends, sickness, behavior, we most often forget to think about our child's food habits....
As they grow older, we unmindfully reward them with junk food and chemical filled soda, serve oily preservative and sugar filled faux food at their birthday parties and not so surprisingly, our children come to associate this junk with being happy and having a good time! Slowly its just easier to get our kids to smile and make peace, by ordering in or having a quick meal at a fast food place - more processed junk! And we wonder, why our kids are over weight or obese? We are the reason for it!
As adults we find it difficult to be disciplined about food and exercise, and we not only lead by example but set our children up on a road to ill health and obesity and a life time of lifestyle diseases.
We are the parents, we need to take responsibility, change our lifestyles first, so we can preach what we practice. If we serve home cooked, nutritious meals, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds and our kids see us enjoying them, they would come to enjoy it too. Family outings should be about bonding and spending time with each other, whether it's cooking and eating together or playing board games or making music or more physical activities like hiking, gardening or running....
Children learn more from us than we can imagine, they look up to us to see how we react to and solve our problems, if weight is a stressful topic and it's all about starvation diets and reward bingeing, they will emulate us!
We have to make food about nourishment, energy and health and not about instant gratification, craving and excesses.
We have a choice, to make our children healthy, fit, disease free or to continue on this destructive path which will lead to allergies, early puberty, diabetes, cholesterol, heart conditions...
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