The Tin Lids - (our kids)

They download every action we do, every word we say, every habit we have, every opinion we make.

We shape their principles, their attitude, their lifestyle, their curiosity, their behavior, and their education.  We can make them intolerant, tolerant, religious, atheist, hardworking, tenacious, diligent, overtly careful, mean spirited, annoying or fearless. We can make them fat, slender, athletic or slovenly.  They are but clay.  We absolutely have to take this seriously folks.  

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What we do, day in and day out, is being watched and stored as appropriate behavior, including how we eat, what we eat, when we eat.

I eat quite ‘cleanly’, so does my husband, Shaun, and our kids think that’s normal.  I will try every sport thrown at me, because I was given the opportunity to do so many different things as a kid, (thank you mum and dad xxx).  My kids think it’s normal to try every sport going. (It costs a lot of money these days, but it’s still worth it.)  We drag the boys along to the Defence Force gym on weekends and they hang out while we train. They grab a basket ball or football or nothing at all and start playing games they make up.   We don’t shove this lifestyle down their throats; we don’t even talk about it that much with them.  They see it; they watch us live it; it’s normal.

I do have rules though.

Some Rules for my Boys

Breakfast must be eaten. All of it.  No ifs, no buts no excuses.

Fizzy drinks, flavoured milk, juice boxes, any fruit juice, poppas – as rarely as possible – NEVER would be perfect.  (If you knew the crap that was in those drinks, you’d fall over with shock!)

The only takeaway they eat is pizza once every two months or so.  Shaun and I don’t eat the pizza, we will cook something like veges and chicken or lean meat, and we all sit down to eat together.

They can’t eat in front of the TV. They can’t eat if on the computer.

For every hour of computer or TV they owe us an hour “off” the TV or computer.  During these times they can read, build forts using all my linen, move their mattresses off their bed to make bunkers, go outside, practice their karate moves, do craft or drawing or painting, use my phone to make movies, or take photos (some funny stuff has come out of those activities).  The words “I’m bored” shit me, so they know not to use them around me, and so they go do something.

Very soon we are going to be cooking dinner together – thanks for that tip Jamie Oliver!  By the way if you get spare 20 minutes please watch the Jamie Oliver lecture (via the TED seminars) posted on my facebook page.  It’s all about what I’ve been saying – or trying to say up above.

Now my kids do get meat pies, or lollies, or chocolate or an ice cream.  But they don’t get these treats daily or routinely.  And again, when Shaun and I give the treats, we don’t eat any ourselves.

My 9 and 7 year old sons recognise nearly all fruits and vegetables in the supermarket, we make it a game when we go shopping. They know what protein is and what it does, and they know a little bit about carbs and fats. They understand hydration is vitally important and the colour and smell of their ‘wee wee’ tells them something (a must for living in Townsville).

We do encourage competitiveness (hello real world) combined with respect, discipline, good sportsmanship and that old lesson of “sometimes you win, sometimes you lose”.  We are preparing them to be good humans that live a long long time; and not give us arsehole grandchildren J

 

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The bit about kids watching our every move and making it their own is supported by these dudes below, and I’m sure a thousand other journal articles, but these are the ones I researched.

Bonnell, S. (2010) The effect of SHAPEDOWN on habilts and self-esteem for overweight and obese children.  Doctoral dissertation.

Cooper, R., Hypponen, E., Berry, D., Power, C. (2010) Associations between parental and offspring adiposity up to midlife: the contribution of adult lifestyle factor in the 1958 British birth cohort study. American Journal of Nutrition. 2010. 92(4) 946-953.

Golley, R.K., Magarey, A.M., Baur, L.A., Steinbeck, K.S., Daniels, L.A. (2007) Twelve month effectiveness of a parent-led family-focused weight-management program for prepubertal children: a randomized, controlled trial. URL www.cinahl.com/cgi-bin/refsvc?jid=783&accno2009529314.