\n\t\t\t

Hello and welcome to another edition of HELP For Mums<\/strong> which\u00a0is\u00a0platform of\u00a0us\u00a0mothers to\u00a0share our struggles and successes on this journey to achieving a healthy lifestyle balance . Today we shift focus a little bit from ourselves to our children<\/strong> – undoubtedly the most important people in our lives next to our spouses. I hope that this blesses and encourages\u00a0someone today.<\/p>\n

Triggered by one thing or another at some point in our lives many of us are moved to start making healthier choices. We struggle to change our diet and start visiting the gym various times a week.\u00a0While this is\u00a0great for us, the question is, are we setting our kids up\u00a0to go through the same \u201cstruggle\u201d in their adulthood?<\/p>\n

The unfortunate truth is that even after we make a positive lifestyle change, many of us leave our children behind and continue to allow them to eat poorly and cultivate the unhealthy habits we are trying so hard to break. We rationalize that it\u2019s just \u201ceasier\u201d to let them eat what they want or do what they want, but look where that thinking got you! The Bible says in Proverbs 22:6 \u201cTrain up a child in the way [s]he should go: and when [s]he is old, [s]he will not depart from it\u201d<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Healthy Parenting<\/strong>\u00a0involves not only making healthy decisions for ourselves, but also teaching our children to do the same,so that they can also live a\u00a0healthy\u00a0and more empowered life. If you are committed to training\u00a0 up your children\u00a0in order to\u00a0set them up for success,\u00a0here are some tips that can help;<\/p>\n

\n
1. Let Them Eat What You Eat<\/strong> \u2013 one bad habit that exists in many households is the \u201cmultiple meals syndrome<\/em>\u201d. In many homes a more health conscious mother might feel the need to provide a meal option for each family member that\u2019s suited to their preference so has not to \u201cforce\u201d her new lifestyle on the family. Not only does this create stress but it also results in said mother spending more time that necessary in the kitchen which is not a very good use of her already limited time. Unless your child (or husband) has an allergy, I suggest offering everyone the same meal. It might take some time and coercing to get everyone on board but it will reap pretty awesome results.<\/li>\n
2. Let Them Help <\/strong>\u2013 We are all guilty of it. Propping the kids in front of the TV or banishing them to their room so that we ca cook or clean or do something else around the house. Why not encourage them to join you? Kids learn by imitation \u2013 so why not let them learn to cook, clean and take care of the home alongside you. You may have to re-do a thing or two the first few times, but pretty soon you\u2019ll have some pretty efficient little helpers that won\u2019t be too lazy to take care of themselves one day.<\/li>\n
3. Exercise With Them<\/strong> \u2013 Running around, jumping up and down hopping from side to side – now I\u2019m not sure what that all sounds like to you, but that sure sounds like play to me! And that\u2019s exactly how your kids will see it. You will be teaching your kids to be active which will help them in adulthood not to be lazy couch potatoes. Children need at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day and the recommended activities are aerobic activities (i.e. walking or running), muscle strengthening (i.e. gymnastics or push-ups) and bone strengthening (i.e. jump rope or monkey bars). All of these can be accomplished in a really good workout sesh with you! If you children are still young they might not be able to all of this, but watching you do it will influence them to start early! I exercise with my 4 year old and 18 months old and they LOVE IT.<\/li>\n
4. Make It A Family Affair<\/strong> \u2013 I can\u2019t iterate this point enough. Do not be afraid to have that talk with your spouse and children about the changes that you will all be making in order to live a more healthy lifestyle. Involve them in meal\u00a0planning and prepping, let them\u00a0come up with an exercise routine – allow\u00a0them to take ownership of the lifestyle. They will surely thank you for the good habits they learn along the way.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    <\/p>\n

   As always, thank you for stopping by today.\u00a0If you have any questions or issues that you are struggling with please leave a comment. If you\u00a0found this helpful please share with your friends and family.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hello and welcome to another edition of HELP For Mums which\u00a0is\u00a0platform of\u00a0us\u00a0mothers to\u00a0share our struggles and successes on this journey to achieving a healthy lifestyle balance . Today we shift focus a little bit from ourselves to our children - undoubtedly the most important people in our lives next to our spouses. I hope that ... Read More about Train Up A Child – 4 Healthy Parenting Tips<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethelfitmum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethelfitmum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethelfitmum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethelfitmum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethelfitmum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1244"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bethelfitmum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2822,"href":"https:\/\/bethelfitmum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1244\/revisions\/2822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethelfitmum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethelfitmum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethelfitmum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethelfitmum.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}