Happy, Healthy, Well Balanced Children and How They Get that Way

Lets be completely frank, the way to improve the health of the nation starts at home and that old adage is as true today as it ever was, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".

Yet many people find the task of keeping their home healthy a very daunting and overwhelming one. We all know, for example, that eating quality home made food is the cornerstone of keeping everyone in your family healthy & happy.

Now I can already hear some readers groaning after having read that last paragraph. Folks are overworked, overstressed and the last thing they want to consider is putting even more responsibility on their plate. I can understand and appreciate those feelings. Times are tough and in a time where everyone is already heavily overburdened with responsibilities nobone is going to jump for joy over the prospect of "cooking healthy" for their family only to be rewarded with moans and groans about how they don't like this or they don't like that.

You know what I'm talking about but in case you don't, please allow me to elaborate. Does the following phrase sound strangely familiar to you? "Mom/Dad, I don't want to eat my vegetables, I hate vegetables, their yucky! Can we get some McDonald's or order a Pizza or something?

I just heard another collective groan from all the parents out there who have heard the vegetable lament, as illustrated above so many times that they really would rather give in and buy some McDonald burgers and fries simply to have a relatively calm and worry free evening rather then fighting with the kids over eating their greens.

Now I have a question for all the parents out there; what if I told you that you can get your kids, and other family members that shall remain nameless, to eat a healthy dinner, including all those vegetables.

What would you say if I told you that you can easily eliminate the dreaded veggie lament that usually accompanies a healthy, home made meal?

Impossible you say? Well, I don't know the meaning of the word impossible, maybe it's time I buy a dictionary. No, but in all seriousness everything I mentioned above is easy to accomplish and with less effort then it takes to go to Burger King (I didn't want to make it seem like I'm picking on McDonald's) to get all those fried and greasy foods that are causing America's waistline to expand.

On a personal note I find it terrifying to see the amount of cases of juvenile diabetes, pancreatitis, asthma and a whole host of other diseases statistically explode in the past twenty or thirty years. To call this trend disturbing is an immense understatement and I think everyone can agree on at least this one point that we, as a society, must do something to reverse this trend. To drive the point home, for the first time in American history we can expect to see average national lifespans to decrease.

To put this in blunt terms, we are facing a healthcare catastrophe that, we as a people, can not afford. On top of that, what makes this such a sad state of affairs is that this healthcare nightmare is extremely easy to prevent, and this brings me to the actual point of this article.

First, let's tackle the getting your kids to eat their vegetables dilemma. It is a well known fact that if a child participates and the cooking of a portion of the families dinner they will be far less likely to buck against eating their veggies. If a child creates something that they end up taking pride in, it spurs them on and actually makes them eager to eat those greens. A sense of pride can go a very long way to producing tomorrow's adults who will have a healthy eating habit.

Once again, I'm hearing the parents out there muttering that they don't have enough hours in a day to get all their tasks accomplished and here's this person telling them that they should now use up even more of their valuable time to teach their kids how to cook?

Let me stop you right there, I completely understand your time constraints and appreciate your situation. Yet, at the same time parents like nothing more than to spend quality time with their children.

So next time you're in the kitchen preparing the family meal, get your kids to participate. Start out slowly and have them peel the potato's. If you're making mashed potato's have the kids taste them and ask them what they think the "recipe" is lacking and then let them pick the spices that they think would make the potato's even better. I can almost guarantee you that you will see a twinkle in their eye and a growing excitement about preparing dinner.

The same is true for other veggies and actually potato's are more difficult to prepare then most most other roots and greens.

Think about it, a bag of frozen veggies from your local grocery store will cost your around 90 cents and tossing them on them on a pan is about as easy as it gets. As strange as this may sound to some, children crave responsibility as well as spending time with you. If you do something as simple as putting them in charge of preparing the vegetables then you are providing them with the two things they crave the most, spending time with you and having the same type of responsibilities that an adult would have.

It is important to encourage them and give them a sense of pride in the way they chose to prepare the part of the meal that they were charged with preparing. Sure, it's not only possible but almost inevitable that there will be mishaps where the broccoli is over-salted, simply grin and bear it without telling your kids that they did it wrong. They are tasting the same broccoli as you and they will know that they made a mistake with the salt and thus they will have learned a lesson and the salt will end up being used with greater care in the future.

Kids are a lot smarter then they are given credit for and if you just give them a chance they will show you just what they are capable of.

As they become more and more comfortable in the kitchen you can slowly put them in charge of preparing other varieties of food. Pasta and different types of stuffing come to mind.

Another benefit is that your children will have better self esteem and that is possibly one of the most important aspects of a young persons life as they enter puberty. Just think back to your teen years, remember how confusing they were and how uncertain you were? Sure would have been nice if you had that one thing that you knew you were good at (cooking) that would bring up your self esteem when you were down in the dumps.

I know there are some parents out there that tend to be overprotective and I an hear them right now telling me, "Are you crazy, my child is going to cut their arm off with that potato knife! Children should be kept far away from anything sharp, they could cut themselves and bleed to death right there on the kitchen floor as I and my wife/husband/spouse look on. You sir are a dangerous, child hating lunatic with no regard for my children's safety. Oh, and I don't even want to think about the 1'st, 2'nd, 3'rd and 4'th degree burns that they are going to get from being around all that cooking food. You sir should be locked up as you are a danger to all children and youngsters. You are probably some sort of child hater!"

OK, OK, I made that last paragraph a little over the top but I did that for a reason. As the old saying goes, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

Now, if you're asking me whether or not your child will cut their finger eventually? The answer to that is resounding yes.

Is you child likely to accidentally burn their hand or finger? Yeah, it's almost a given that they will end up burning themselves sooner or later.

No, I don't have any desire to see your children harmed but if you really think about it, we've all cut and burned ourselves at one point or another and we are better people for it. We learned a lesson and are more careful.

You can preach to kids until you're blue in the face but the reality of the situation is that some lessons are painful and that the only way that some lessons are learned is through making mistakes and suffering the consequences.

Please look for part two of this article.

In part two I will be discussing the many different ways that you can boost your child's self esteem, pride and a sense of accomplishment. In other words, how you can help your kids become responsible and admirable adults.