Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Teaching Moments

This past week has screamed 'teaching moments' to me. I've had some really nice heart to heart talks with all of my children (that can talk). With Paige we spoke about the importance of finishing and what's truly important about running a race and also why having a goal of 'skinniness' isn't what we should strive for-HEALTHY is. With Reagan we spoke about not giving up when facing a new challenge (crocheting in this instance) and religious tolerance and how every family gets to set their own rules, and that's great. With Tyson we spoke about why TV and video games aren't the end all be all and the injustice of when his birthday falls(3 weeks after the cutoff).

It blows me away how much our kids pick up and learn from observation. It's really made me think about what I want my kids to learn from me-particularly in the health and body image department. I'm very careful not to use words like skinny and fat, and I always try to explain the health factor behind the food choices I make for our family. When my girls started talking about who was skinnier and asked me if their legs were skinny enough, I was blown away. How can they be learning this stuff at 8 and 6 years old???? Needless to say, we've had several discussions on what healthy means and how to get there.

It's also helped me refocus on the purpose of this competition. WEIGHT is not the end all be all....BETTER HEALTH is. I've made a goal to really focus on expanding my cooking skills to make things that are more 'fun' for the kids. Yesterday we experimented with homemade chocolate chip granola bars. Super easy and super yummy!! Now when I get the big puppy dog eyes for some kind of treat in their lunches, there's something I'll actually let them take. It made me want to learn more and experiment more, and get them involved so they'll always know how to make the smarter choice.

Knowledge is power, right? So the best thing I can pass on to my kids is the HOW and WHY a healthier lifestyle is better. And the only way to teach it is to know for myself.

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