we do not eat healthy 100% of the time and i'm ok with that. norah loves her fruit and veggies and she's fine eating whole grains and lean meats/cheeses. yes, she has cookies and ice cream sometimes. yes, i think THAT IS OK. she's a kid! but to survive solely on junk food and sweets? that is NOT.
check out this video:
this is SCARY.
even though we eat fairly healthy most of the time i know we can probably do better. but it's not just about diet, though that does play a part in it.
a huge problem with this generation is the lack of movement. working in a preschool, it was overwhelmingly obvious which kids' parents brought them outside (and often) and which just sat them in front of a T.V. or put a video game controller in their hands for entertainment.
just like sweets, we do T.V. sometimes. usually for a little bit everyday, maybe 1/2 hour or so depending on the day. but not ALL day. and norah is too young for video games but it's another thing we will not be introducing to her for a long long time. i try to take her outside as often as possible. and if it's rainy or too hot/too cold, we go to the library. (who am i kidding, we go there almost everyday anyway ;) . we also frequent the park and on special trips we go to the zoo or the aquarium. as she gets older i look forward to enrolling her into soccer/swimming/gymnastics/etc.
and when i was a kid?? i was outside all day, every day. my mom kicked us out in the morning and we had to be home when the street lights came on (thanks mom!). i definitely watched T.V. too but it was way less important to us then. now as a school-aged child you might be ostracized for NOT having a nintendo DS or a giant flat screen T.V. at home (something like this happened at my PRESCHOOL). the focus is not on imagination and play, it's on who has the coolest "stuff."
the content on this website [designedtomove.org] is fantastic and i really hope you take the time to read through it. it really made me think, and i know it will make you do the same.
I love this! My mom had always nagged us to eat healthily and so when I moved out for college, I didn't. My husband was diagnosed with Celiac as an adult, right after our wedding, and so we all of the sudden HAD to learn to read ingredients and understand what we were eating. I soon got really into eating healthily and now that I'm a mom, I'm REALLY into making healthy "fun." I have a tag on my blog for "Ethan's Weekly Eats" which are his fun toddler lunches that I make for him that are ways to do just that: make healthy stuff fun! Letting him run around outside and be a kid is also so important to me. My son is just 15 months old and I've met other parents whose children already watch 2 movies a day and eat Happy Meals. It's totally a scary world out there. Designed to Move is awesome!
i saw your tag..i was browsing earlier today :) and i know it's definitely scary! i had a former student who's "breakfast" was a bag of chips or cheetos and a capri sun shoved in a lunch box by mom or dad. so sad!
i agree - moderation is KEY! that's why i won't deny my daughter sweets on holidays or special occasions or our weekly family movie night. it's part of being a kid! ;)
I always kick my kids outside when it's nice and make them play instead of sitting in front of the tv every day. They get about an hour a day and sometimes not even that much when it's nice out. Back when we were kids we didn't have tv overload. It was a lot easier to pull yourself away from the tv because cartoons weren't running 24/7 and we didn't have a dvr. My kids (ages 6,4 & 2) still have no idea how to turn on the wii, so it's something we can still monitor very easily.
exactly. there are screens everywhere anymore so kids think it's normal to have a phone or tv on around them 24/7! sometimes i just tell my daughter the TV is "broken" when she asks ;)
I love this! My mom had always nagged us to eat healthily and so when I moved out for college, I didn't. My husband was diagnosed with Celiac as an adult, right after our wedding, and so we all of the sudden HAD to learn to read ingredients and understand what we were eating. I soon got really into eating healthily and now that I'm a mom, I'm REALLY into making healthy "fun." I have a tag on my blog for "Ethan's Weekly Eats" which are his fun toddler lunches that I make for him that are ways to do just that: make healthy stuff fun! Letting him run around outside and be a kid is also so important to me. My son is just 15 months old and I've met other parents whose children already watch 2 movies a day and eat Happy Meals. It's totally a scary world out there. Designed to Move is awesome!
ReplyDeletei saw your tag..i was browsing earlier today :) and i know it's definitely scary! i had a former student who's "breakfast" was a bag of chips or cheetos and a capri sun shoved in a lunch box by mom or dad. so sad!
Deletewow. this movie is strong in the message. I have the same mind about raising my daughter. In the end - all for the people, but in moderation. :)
ReplyDeletei agree - moderation is KEY! that's why i won't deny my daughter sweets on holidays or special occasions or our weekly family movie night. it's part of being a kid! ;)
DeleteI always kick my kids outside when it's nice and make them play instead of sitting in front of the tv every day. They get about an hour a day and sometimes not even that much when it's nice out. Back when we were kids we didn't have tv overload. It was a lot easier to pull yourself away from the tv because cartoons weren't running 24/7 and we didn't have a dvr. My kids (ages 6,4 & 2) still have no idea how to turn on the wii, so it's something we can still monitor very easily.
ReplyDeleteexactly. there are screens everywhere anymore so kids think it's normal to have a phone or tv on around them 24/7! sometimes i just tell my daughter the TV is "broken" when she asks ;)
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