I believe in the power of movement, nutrition and physical activity on your mental and physical health and know that it’s important to start that education and those habits young. Looking at my daughter as a six year old, understanding how to take care of her body and having the confidence to be a physically active kid really warms my heart :)
And that brings us to part two of the Six Healthy Habits I’m Glad I Stuck With (as a reminder this post came about after reflecting on my daughter turning six, click here for part one).
4. Eat Dinner (or one meal) Together Every Day: Experts have proven the importance of family meals, not just for nutrition, but for a child’s self esteem, academics and more. Since she was in a highchair, I made sure that if she was having dinner, I was in a chair right next to her having dinner too. I also have gone a step further, and other than when she didn’t have teeth (although I gave my best shot at baby led weaning), her and I have always eaten the exact same meal. In some ways this goes back to the idea of there shouldn’t be food “made for kids”, but I also do it because it gives her exposure to new foods, it models healthy eating without forcing it, it creates less stress for me to have to make and clean up two different meals, and it gives us an opportunity to discuss what we’re eating. Sure this means sometimes the meal is more basic than I’d like or more flavorful than what she’d like...but I always make sure to have one thing in the meal that both of us will enjoy. Where does that leave us now that she’s six...with a consistent evening routine and a lot of interesting dinner conversations. I’ll treasure these moments because I know when she’s older and gets involved in activities this may become harder.
5. Choose Vocab Carefully: I cringe when I hear the terms “good” food or “bad” food the same way I do if I hear the term “good kid” or “bad kid”. Eating ice cream shouldn’t make you feel bad or guilty and can lead to unhealthy behaviors (I’m sure many of us can relate because that was more common how we grew up). It was important for me to have her understand that a healthy diet can include all food, and that some foods should be eaten more than others. My approach was to have her understand the impact certain foods had on us. For example oranges have vitamins that help you not get sick and donuts have a lot of sugar, which can make it hard for you to sleep. Where does that leave us now? She has a sweet tooth like me so she’ll still ask for the ice cream (as the ice cream truck seems to have a permanent home on our block), but she understands when I say no to all of the items in the checkout line, that it’s because I’m looking out for her health. Although she may not be happy with not getting ice cream every time she asks, she doesn’t feel like she’s eating something bad or forbidden when we do indulge.
6. Anatomy and Physiology Lessons: Okay, I know this isn’t difficult for me given my field, but my daughter’s only six so the lessons have been pretty basic. My main goal is her having an understanding about how her body works so that when I make decisions for her health or she makes decisions on her own, it’s an informed decision and not just “because my mom is making me or told me so”. It started with very basic day to day stuff, like making sure we grab our water bottles before we leave the house because our body runs on water. Or put your hand on your chest after running around and feeling how fast your heart is pumping. It’s also using appropriate names for body parts like vagina or perhaps a bit extreme, “abrasions” instead of “boo boos”. It’s been simple to provide her with this information as we go through our day and now that she has some understanding she is very comfortable talking about all of her body parts. What impresses me the most is that she’s moved down the spectrum of behavior change from having the knowledge, to having a positive attitude about health, to now making decisions that she feels are best for her. These decisions range from going to her room to lay down when she’s feeling grumpy, to drinking more water when she is sick, to asking me which foods on her plate will give her the protein for strong muscles.
As I mentioned in part one, this is somewhat unsolicited mom advice, and what works for me, may not work for you. But, as I’m sure you know from experience, habits learned at an early age (for better or worse) tend to stick longer and are easier to adopt. So if there is something that’s important to you, a healthy habit you want your kids to always know…then keep at it. Find a way to have a healthy family.
Need help getting yourself healthy, so you can be the role model you want to be? Schedule a free phone call with me and I’ll point you in the right direction.