Establishing a Healthy Lifestyle for Your Children

"How dare he!" thought my incensed mother.

The truth of the matter, though, is that the doctor was right. I was in second grade and I weighed seventy pounds. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but I've got my own fifth grade boy now, of average height, who still hasn't hit seventy pounds.

The doctor's words were tough, but in retrospect they changed my life.

My mother took them seriously, too. Though still allowing me to eat as much as I wanted, she changed the contents of what I was eating. After school snacks switched from cookies, potato chips, and crackers, to carrots, celery, apples, peaches, plums, bananas, etc.

My level of exercise didn't change from that year to the next, but on my doctor's visit the following year, he pronounced me "fit as a fiddle."

Short term, the dietary changes were a good thing. Long term, the benefits were even more important. A lifestyle of eating reasonably healthy foods in healthy amounts had been established, and weight has never been a problem for me since then.

Every parent wants his kid to have enough to eat. Hearing the words, "I'm still hungry," upon the completion of a meal can be painful to the ears. I'll admit that I don't like hearing those words, and on the rare occasion when they are uttered, I do find more food for the hungry child. The thing is, though, that the additional food is not dessert, nor is it junk food. If the kids are still hungry, well, let's find some carrots or fresh fruit.

Of nearly equal importance is exercise. Are the kids getting bogged down in a sedentary lifestyle? It's human nature to drift toward laziness. If the television is on, it's all too easy to sit down and start watching, regardless of the merits (or lack thereof) of the program being watched.

We've established some guidelines to which we try to adhere in our family. We rarely eat dessert during the week, saving it for the weekends. We also rarely eat chips and junk food, again saving it for the weekends or family car trips. The television is only on when we are going to intentionally watch something. And we go outside and play sports in the back yard is frequently as possible. Rarely does a night go by when we don't go out after dinner for a game of football, kickball, basketball, baseball, or ultimate Frisbee in the back yard.

My kids are also active in organized sports. All four participate on swim teams and play water polo. One is also involved in a contact football league.

The kids are also active with family projects and activities, helping in the garden, assisting in taking care of the chickens and the bee hives, etc.

I'll also be the first to point out that people have different metabolic rates. It is much easier for some people to keep the weight off than it is for others. But, in all honesty, I have never met an obese person who is eating the right amount of the right foods and who is getting the right amount of exercise.

Be strict with your kids. Years from now, they'll love you for it.