All About the Kids

When you have a family the important thing to realize is that every decision you make effects everyone in your family. When you take on the responsibility of having a family or make the consciouenscous effort to be a part of a group then it is no longer just about you. There is no room for selfishness and on the bright side you now have a built in support team. A family is something that people are blessed to have and when you are making huge lifestyle changes like in activity and eating habits guess what, there is going to be an effect on those around you too.

I crack jokes about putting an overweight person who loves food around lots of food like a buffet or something is the same thing as taking a junkie to a meth lab. Now I say this as a joke, but how funny is it really? In actuality an addiction is an addiction and is kind of the same thing. Until one can overcome the desire and want for these things then it will always be a problem. The difference is that food is something you have to have for survival so it will forever be a factor.

I do not have kids, but I know that I would really like to someday. I would love to have a family and be a good example for my children. I would also like to be in tip top shape when I start to have children for several reasons. One it makes things easier on your body as well as the childs when one is pregnent, another reason is because it will be easier to get back into shape after the baby is born if you are in a better place beforehand.

As I said I am not a mother, but if there are readers out there today that are then these fun little tips I ran across will be good stuff for you! Changing how children think about food is a good thing, making them want to eat the right stuff however often times comes as a challenge for parents. The one thing nutritionists say not to do is to reward your children with desserts. If kids see eating veggies as an obsticle they have to overcome to get to the cake then they aren't really developing the right mindset about the food. One tip given is to allow children to be a part of the grocery shopping and the planning.

If kids feel like they are a part of the meal planning and a part of the shopping process then it makes them feel important. The one thing that most kids want to be is grown up (not sure why, being a kid is so much easier, but the fact remains that they do). By making them a part of the family decisions then they also get to get a dose of reality. If you say things to them like we have to have some kind of vegetable with  the meal so that the family will stay healthy they see it as a neccessity and not just something gross. They also see that it is part of their responisibility.

Another big thing is to have the kids help you cook and prepair meals. If they are older then let them be responsible for one meal. There is a family online who said that their tween son makes scrammbled eggs for breakfast on Sundays. He has recently been trying to find ways to change it up so he's been adding things like dill to them. The family said that this is the kid who thinks that anything green is a horrible idea now sees a need for it in terms of cooking. I will be the first to tell you I have certainly experienced this in my life. My little brother who is now 18 use to refuse to eat anything that was green. He would say "green is evil". This didn't leave much room for anything that healthy and to be honest with you I don't think that much has really changed.

The thing that amazes me about my brothers horrible eating habits is that even with the exact same genetics he is extremely thin. It must be nice to eat crap food all day and still be able to rock some skinny jeans. Not the point of my post today, really more of a jealous rant...lol.

Another tip online is to make healthy foods into taco's or burritos. Kids tend to like finger foods so if you have prepaired rice and boneless skinless chicken allow your children to put them onto a tortilla. Give them salsa and lettuce as fixings and this is something that they get to put together themselves. They will be happy and so will you. So really in the end this will be a win win for all.

These are just a few tips that I came across today and if you have anymore please feel free to share them with me. As I said I'm no mom so I haven't yet perfected any kind of tips and I also realize that each child is different, but a lifestyle change is a lifestyle change and everyone in your immediate household need to be on board. Because it is not just about you being happy and healthy it is about your family too.