5 Steps You Can Take Today To Change Your Child’s Future
Childhood obesity is growing at an alarming rate. You know that. You hear the
news, read the articles and watch the reality shows on television. Our beautiful
children are suffering from diabetes, heart disease, eating disorders, and the
resulting shame that being overweight often results in. They deserve better. They
deserve to live rich, full lives abundant with laughter, activity and the joy of feeling
pride in themselves. They deserve to look in the mirror and be proud of who they
are. This isn’t about vanity it’s about self-confidence.
Our children are our responsibility. Even as they grow into adults, if we haven’t
provided them with a foundation of healthy skills and habits, they will suffer and
make harmful health choices. The following pages will highlight on ten very
important, but simple steps that you can take today to change your child’s life for
the better. These steps will teach them how to care for themselves so that they
feel better physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Don’t stress ‘diet’s’ or ‘weight loss’ in children. It only teaches them to be self
conscious and ashamed of their bodies. Teach your children to appreciate
themselves for who they are and to be the best person that they can be. When
they love themselves, they’ll take better care of their bodies as children and as
adults.
Let’s get started!
Step One: Understanding Proper Nutrition
Proper nutrition means that your child is getting all of the nutrients and vitamins
that they need to grow strong and healthy. They need their calories and nutrients
to be dispersed throughout the day, which means that skipping breakfast, having
a candy bar for lunch and then having a healthy dinner isn’t giving them what
they need to perform well during the day. Instead, offer your children 4-5 smaller
meals each day or three main meals with two healthy snacks.
The average child age 4-8 needs about 1300 calories a day. The average 9-13
year old needs about 1700 calories a day and children 14-18 need about 2000
depending on their activity levels and development. These calories can be broken
down into three main meals consisting of a lean protein, vegetable or fruit, and a
carbohydrate.
That’s not easy to do, many parents protest. My child is choosy about what they
eat. That may be true but no child has ever let itself starve. Children, how ever
picky they may seem at the dinner table, will eat healthy foods if they’re placed in
front of them. More importantly, healthy food doesn’t need to taste bad.
For example, a healthy breakfast consisting of a bowl of low sugar cereal with low
fat milk, a banana, and a glass of juice is a fantastic start to your child’s day. Mix
it up and offer a whole grain frozen waffle with fruit, maple syrup and a glass of
low fat milk and your child has the fiber, protein, and fruit serving that they need
to start their day on the right foot.
The federal government’s website on nutrition offers a food pyramid just for
children and a PDF that outlines portion size by age. It’s a handy resource that
you can print out and refer to as you you’re your family’s meals.
When you learn what your child is supposed to be eating, it’s easy to give it to
them in a way that fits both your needs. There are easy to prepare foods
available, even prepackaged foods that are healthy. Read the labels. Avoid foods
that are high in sugar, saturated fats, trans fats and chemicals that you cannot
pronounce. One bit of advice that many health care professionals and nutritionists
like to share is “If your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize it, don’t serve it to
your child.” Meaning quite simply, if it is full of chemicals and preservatives, don’t
feed it to your child.
The goal of this exercise isn’t to chain you to the kitchen to prepare nutritional
meals for your child, it’s to make it easy for you, your child, and your entire family
to eat well – even with today's busy lives.
Step Two: Healthy Kids Begin With Healthy Parents
Take the time to be a good role model. There’s no doubt about it, healthy kids
begin with healthy parents. As a parent, regardless of the words that come out of
your mouth, it is your actions that your children really pay attention to. You can
profess up and down how strongly you believe that good nutrition is vital for their
health and development, if you’re sitting on the couch with your hand in a bag of
chips, they’ll get the message that you don’t want them to hear. “These chips are
better than an apple any day.”
If you want them to eat a good breakfast, then prepare a good breakfast and sit
down with them.
You want your children to make healthy choices when they are away from you at
school and their friend’s homes.
Help your child develop healthy habits by:
· Asking them to assist with the meal preparation and shopping.
· Ask them to plan and prepare their sack lunches for school.
· Ask them to choose the menu one evening each week.
· Learn about nutrition and healthy habits together.
Once your children know what foods are good for their bodies, and they feel the
results, they will begin to make better choices about what they put into them.
However, they won’t learn how to make those healthy choices, and they won’t be
interested in making them, unless your actions support the habits.
Things you can do to reinforce your child’s healthy habits:
· Take time to fill the house with healthy snacks
· Don’t drink soda and eat junk food while forbidding your child to eat it
· Do offer dessert night or special occasions were you and your child can
enjoy a treat
· Do engage your child in the planning and preparation of meals
When you take time to become a health conscious role model for your child, you
benefit too. You and your child will have more energy, you’ll feel happier, stronger,
and when you prepare meals together you’ll share bonding moments that will last
a lifetime.
Step Three: Expose Your Child to a Variety of Sports and Activities
Let’s face it, we’re not all going to enjoy and be good at soccer. We’re not all
marathon runners or rock climbers or Olympic skiers.
But physical activity is important. It is important to keep our bodies moving and
burning calories, it’s important for our heart, muscles and lungs. Physical activity
is important for our metabolism, our development, our immune system, our
coordination and even for our happiness. When we’re physically active,
endorphins are released which stimulate feelings of happiness and well-being.
Without physical activity, we suffer. Your children suffer. They miss out on the
valuable health benefits of exercise but they also miss out on the mental and
emotional benefits.
Sports engage us to set goals, to problem solve, to work with others to achieve a
common goal. They teach us to be better people than we are. Children gain a
sense of pride from participating in sports. They learn the value of competition.
They learn the value of themselves.
The good news is that there are hundreds, possibly thousands of sports that your
child can try. In fact, it is important to expose your child to a number of activities
so that they can not only find a sport that fits their personality, they can find a
sport that fits their abilities.
Soccer is obviously a sport that is commonly available for children of all ages and
abilities. Basketball, baseball, and even football leagues begin at a young age.
What about:
· Jump Roping
· Dancing
· Karate
· Rock Climbing
· Snow Boarding
· Skateboarding
· Running
· Volleyball
· Gymnastics
· Bicycling
· Swimming
The list could go on and on. Expose your child to as many sports as
you can at an early age and they’ll instinctively develop good habits.
They’ll learn the value of physical exercise. They’ll learn how to set
goals for themselves – and how to reach them. They’ll learn what it
means to win, and what it means to lose.
Step Four: Make Sports and Exercise a Family Event
Just as your children learn from your behavior and actions towards
nutrition, they also follow your example when it comes to physical
activity. If you want your children to be physically active and involved
in sports, you need to demonstrate that it’s an important part of your
life too.
Take up a new sport. Try karate with your child. Explore yoga, join a
running club, or even learn to rock climb. The world is full of
adventures for both you and your children. Show your children how to
seize life and they will thank you for it.
If your child is expressing an interest in running, or any sport, but
they’re not sure where to start, you can show them your support by:
· Running or training with them
· Helping them find the right gear.
· Helping them locate and register for races
· Guiding them on the type of running they want to try;
distance, sprinting, trail running, relays etc.
· Show up for all races and events
Another way to demonstrate that physical exercise is an important
aspect in your life and your child’s life is to participate in physical
activity together. Go for a family bike ride. Take your family on a hike.
Go rafting or canoeing on your local river or lake. Play Frisbee, golf,
Frisbee golf, baseball, basketball, or even football as a family.
Take a ski weekend in the winter, go sledding or snow shoeing. The
world is your playground. Teach your children to enjoy it.
Step Five: Limit TV/Computer Time
One of the biggest time killers for children of all ages, and adults too,
is the television, computer, and video games. Children can spend
hours of their precious time parked in front of a screen. Time that
could be better used playing outside, practicing their favorite activity,
or even reading a book.
Also, quite often this time spent in front of a screen leads to unhealthy
eating habits. After all, how can you prepare a sandwich while you’re
engrossed in the latest video game or social networking site? You
can’t, you have to grab a quick snack and head right back to what you
were doing.
A quick and easy remedy to this problem is to limit their time in front
of the screen. Take the games, computers, and televisions out of their
bedrooms and move them into one location, preferably the family
room, where everyone has access to them.
Don’t want to hear the complaints, protests, and general whining when
you tell them that they cannot watch TV or get onto the computer?
Attach one of the many electronic nanny devices that control the
electronics for you. It doesn’t have to be a password type device,
there are debit card systems that you can purchase for a low price.
One popular model gives each their own debit card that they have to
use if they want to watch television. As a parent, you give the child a
certain amount of time at the beginning of each week. If your child
decides to use all of their time in one day, that’s all they get for the
entire week.
These devices teach children to budget their television and computer
time while at the same time it eliminates the responsibility from the
parents. You no longer have to hear “Mom, can I watch TV?” and then
hear the inevitable complaints when you say no. Now they’re in
charge of when they watch TV, until their time runs out.
Of course, many children will promptly sit down and watch their entire
allotment of television the moment you add time on their cards. This
will result in several days of aimless wandering while they try to figure
out how to fill the time. No worries, give them plenty of books and
activities indoors and when the inevitable “I’m bored” pops out of their
mouth – send them outside or put them to work!
Conclusion:
The road to healthy children isn’t as dire and painful as many experts
would like us to believe. However, it is a commitment. As a parent
you have to commit to:
· Educating yourself on proper nutrition for yourself and your
child
· Taking the time to plan nutritious meals.
· Demonstrating by example what good nutrition is
· Supporting your child in finding healthy, tasty food
· Supporting your child to become an active member of the
food preparation process
· Supporting your child to find physical activities that they enjoy
· Supporting your child to try new things
· Demonstrating by example that you believe in staying active
· Demonstrating what it means to love yourself, by taking care
of yourself so that your child can emulate your behavior and
love themselves too.
The steps to take to help your child live a long, happy and healthy life
aren’t difficult but they take a commitment on your part. Know that
the habits that your child develops will stick with them for the rest of
their lives. The habits that you help them develop, whether they’re
healthy habits or harmful habits; will be passed on to your children’s
children.
By Tan Choon Yoke
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