Everyone wants their kids to grow up with the best opportunities.  We certainly don’t want to plant the seeds of mortality now by allowing sedentary lifestyles and diets geared towards heart attacks later in life.  Here’s how we can grow our kids healthy, starting today.

Fruit and whole grains for breakfast. Instead of cereal, sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, go for some whole grains and some real fruit.  A small bowl of strawberries and some oatmeal maybe?  Or how about a whole wheat English muffin, a smidge of jam for sweetness, and orange slices.  It takes just as long to prepare as a bowl of cereal and you’re child will have energy all the way to lunch time.

Walk to school. I realize this isn’t possible for everyone, but if you can, walk your child to school.  A new study shows that doing so will decrease their stress levels at school and help them learn.  It may even curb the possibility of heart disease developing later in life.  If walking to school isn’t remotely going to happen, think about how you could turn a usual morning activity into something a little more energetic.

Brown bag their lunch. Let’s face it, the school lunch system is broken.  The combination of budget cuts and lobbying groups have left our children with trays of beige food, filled with fat, sugar, and little nutritional value.  Make your child a sandwich or a roll-up, add some fruit and maybe some cheese for a snack, and they’ll have a healthy, delicious meal.  Talk to your child about what they like and don’t like and let them help with the process.   No idea what to make for lunch?  Here’s 30 ideas from Good Housekeeping.

After-school play.  The first thing my son does after-school is go outside and play.  It’s usually just on the school grounds, but he’s got his system and he’s raring to go.  It’s easy to engage a friend or two and run around the jungle gym for a few minutes.  It helps my son decompress from his day and it acts as a transition to other afternoon activities.   You can get elaborate if you want with play dates or more organized activities like soccer or other team sports.  We do that too, but the main thing is to let ‘em run around to burn some calories and to unwind.

Healthy snacks. This one will evolve over time, but having healthy snacks around will prevent afternoon sugar crashes and grumpy, whiny children.  Want some ideas?  Here’s 20 healthy snacks for kids from Parenting.com.   Most of them are easy to prepare and cost less than the name brand snack bags you might be buying now.

Let them cook. Cooking is a great way to explain healthy eating to your kids.  They see you put a few drops of olive oil in the pan and not a stick of butter.  They watch you slice the veggies.  You can start them off by stirring things, or by letting them empty ingredients into a dish.  If they are old enough, you can introduce them to knife skills.  We went all out in my house and got our son his own apron and let him pick out recipes.  Yes, his favorite recipe is for brownies, but he also pays attention when I’m making meatballs and other kid-friendly dishes.  We also signed him up for an afternoon cooking class with two of his friends and he had a blast.  By the way, the class was 50/50 boys to girls. Teaching your child to cook will give them one of the best life skills for staying healthy.  Here’s some more ideas for cooking with your child.

Eat family meals. I wrote about this in more detail, but family meals have been shown to improve communication, decrease drug use, increase grades, save money, and create lasting family bonds.   Family meals are one of the most important elements to raising a healthy child.

Plan family activities. Going with your kids to soccer practice shows them you love them, but it doesn’t do you any good.  In addition to team sports that you’re already involved in, add family time.  Easy options are hiking or a pick-up soccer or basketball game.  You can get even more elaborate with family bike rides, kayaking trips, and days at the beach (you need to get in the water, too).  You can also just turn on music in your living room and start to boogie. Whatever appeals to you and your family is what you should do.

Talk gently to your kids. If a child has a weight problem you can easily make it worse and get “shut out” in the process.  If you’ve just read some scary study and want to help your child shed a few pounds there is a right way and a wrong way to approach them.  First of all, apologize to them; the lifestyle that you developed for them has contributed to where they are (I’m not blaming you! You’re here getting educated so now you know what to do!).  Then tell them you need their help to get both of you to be healthier.  Think of it as a team effort and not a finger pointing exercise. Criticizing them for sitting on the couch, or batting a cookie out of their hand is not going to do the trick.  Planning a weekend hike and having veggies cut up and waiting in the fridge will.  Also keep the cookies and other junk food out of the house completely.  They can’t eat it if it isn’t there.

Set an example. We need to walk on the path and get our kids to walk beside us.  If I start hula hooping in my living room (yes, I actually do this), my son will spontaneously get up and either grab another hoop or just boogie next to me.  I don’t even have to ask him.  He just thinks it’s fun.  My husband and I talk all spring about getting into the water to go kayaking and by the time the first warm day approaches we’re all equally excited to get on the water and start paddling.  We frequently brown bag our lunch, too.

What do you do to raise healthy kids?  I would love to share ideas and swap opinions.

Thanks,

Lisa

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