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Who's The Role Model In Your House?

By Jane Westreich

Obese children and adolescents has more than doubled since 1980 according to the American Association of Obesity. How can this be?

We have much more knowledge about what causes obesity, yet the number of children and adolescents who are clinically obese has more than doubled. As a parent and a fitness professional this is alarming, scary and in my opinion - parent's fault. Here's why I think parents are to blame.

Where do kids learn to be healthy or un-healthy eaters?

Recent studies have indicated that one of the keys to childhood obesity is tied to the diet and fitness habits of the parents. Have you ever witnessed a child who eats healthier than his or her parents? I bet you haven't.

The parents are the role models for their children in many ways but parents are the biggest influence on their kids in terms of diet and nutrition.

If you, as a parent, go through your entire day without stopping to nourish your body with healthy food or reach for unhealthy choices when you are starved, your kids will think it's OK to do the same.

What you as a parent shop for, buy and have in the house influences how well (or not well) your kids will snack. A priority is to first get the parents to eat and snack healthy.

How can we learn to be better roles models for children?

  1. Appreciate You

    If you take care in how you value your health and body your children will take note and follow your lead. Focus on positives. Learn not to be so critical and focus on your favorite features instead of complaining about what's less desirable. Mom's please listen to me - you are beautiful. You are everything to your kids and family. Start appreciating who you are and focus on your positives. Being positive about your body and your kid's bodies is healthy.

  2. Enjoy and Participate in Life

    Parents who value participating in life instead of watching it go by pass this zest for life on to their children. Do you value exercise and an active lifestyle or do you sit on the couch and watch TV as life goes by? Studies show that inactive parents tend to have inactive children. Be a healthy, active role model for your children.

    Here's a great story to share on this point. My six year old daughter had a friend over for a play date. My husband came home early from work so I could get a workout in with one of my trainers. I was saying good-bye to my daughter and her friend. My daughter's friend asked, "where's your mom going?". As natural as could be my daughter said, "my mom's going to workout". Perplexed her little friend said, "what does that mean?". I wish you could have seen the look on my daughter's face when her friend asked this simple but what appeared to be odd question. The point of this story - my "working out" or setting a healthy example is normal in our house. My husband and I are role models for our kids and our kids know that my husband and I make exercise and healthy eating a part of our lives.

    Do your kids know what exercise is? Do your kids see you make exercise, and a healthy active life style a priority?

  3. Don't talk about Dieting

    Do you talk about dieting around your kids? Don't! Instead educate your kids on foods that provide important nutrients they need for building strong bones and healthy bodies. Teach them that the colorful packages that claim to promote good nutrition are not always the healthiest choices. A parent's job is to ignore the marketing and look to the back and teach your kids about what to look for. A great example of this is "low sugar" versions of popular kid's cereals. Oftentimes at a close look you can easily see that serving sizes are made smaller to make the nutritional values appear better. It is a parent's job to educate themselves and their children about these marketing tactics and teach kids how to maintain a healthy diet.

  4. Take the Lead -

    Learn how and educate your kids on ingredient lists. Words like hydrogenated oil, high fructose corn syrup and "enriched" signify harmful fats and empty calories. Also pay close attention to sugar and portion sizes. Even something that appears to be healthy, like yogurt for example, can be packed full of sugar.

  5. Eat Family Meals at Home

    Sharing meals together at home provides more opportunities for you to model healthy behaviors. Your preparation of healthy foods and beverage choices will have a much more positive influence on your children than any other attempt you make to control what they eat or drink.

In conclusion, there are many behaviors that parents need to adjust to encourage kids to be healthy and the points discussed in this article are just a few.

Childhood obesity is reaching epidemic levels. Portion sizes, mystery ingredients and marketing are all to blame but this mom and fitness professional believes the parents are where this dramatic increase in unhealthy, inactive, overweight and obese children begins. Over 25 million kids face a future potentially plagued by diabetes, high cholesterol and other health problems. It's time that we, as parents, change the future of our children and in the process create healthy families who continue to pass the healthy and active mind set down from generation to generation. If we all do this - we will have healthy generations to come.

About the Author:

Jane Westreich

Fitness Together - Mequon



www.mequonfitness.com

Fitness Together - Third Ward



www.thirdwardfitness.com