Develop Healthy Habits

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

07 Mar 2006 09:04 PM

It would be nice if we were born with the awareness and knowledge about nutritional differences and physical requirements of a healthy body. It would be even better if we had some kind of internal gauge that told us the truly healthy choice between a tuna sandwich and Suzy Q. Unfortunately, none of us are so blessed with the gift of being able to judge food and physical fitness choices.

This is why we need parents, teachers and mentors. We need someone who provides the information. We need to be lectured. We need to be reminded. We need to be nudged. Sometimes, we even need to be sat down and told off.

Whatever way it happens, however it happens to us, we need it to happen. We needed it when we were five and we need it now. But more than that, we need to be the ones providing that for our children. My daughter already has a definition of junk food. She has definitions of activity. She also understands the difference between sitting still and doing nothing and getting up to go and play.

Currently, she's got a terrible case of the flu. She has the body aches, the headaches and the on-again, off-again fever. In a nutshell, she's miserable. She's been doing a lot of curling up in bed, in chairs and on the sofa. We've been watching movies and reading books. She's been playing, but quietly. Today, she asked if she was well enough to go outside for a while.

"You can sit out on the patio if you want, but I don't want you running around yet." I said.

"Awww mom." She complained. "I need to do my essercises!"

"What?"

"Essercise makes me healthy, remember? If I do my essercises, I can get better faster."

I laughed, both at how cute she was and in delight at how quickly she's picked up on the concepts. She understands that mommy exercises, so she wants to as well. She asks me what's good food to eat and what's a healthy diet. She asks these types of questions not because she was born knowing the difference, but because she is learning the difference.

The fun part is that by teaching her, I'm reinforcing the lesson to myself! So here are some tips to help you help your kids develop some healthy habits and maybe even reinforce your own:

• Get up off the sofa and get busy. When you exercise, they will want to.
• Don't be a couch potato, be active when the T.V. is on.
• Be a cheerleader. Focus on what went right and not what went wrong.
• Learn how to offer a positive spin for disappointments.
• Give kids an opportunity to try out different things, find the activities they like and they'll stick to it.
• Don't offer food rewards for good behavior.
• Reward goals - teach them how to set one and when they make it, reward it!
• Read the labels on food with your kids. Make sure they know what to look for.
• Be involved. After all, your attention is the best reward.

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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