Healthy Parenting for Healthy Kids!

We have made a decision, a new resolution; we really are going to make the effort to…

• Make nutritious suppers.

• Plan lunch in advance so it is not a grab what you find as you go.

• Prepare some healthy snacks for those ‘picky’ moments.

Sounds great, but now to pull it off the ground with a healthy eating plan …

Here are some simple things that can make things easier:

1. Make a shopping list when you have time to think clearly, make it quite detailed and specific.

Go shopping when you are not rushed or hungry in order to limit impulse buys or foods that are a ‘quick fix’.  Take your list with you when you shop and try to stick to it as much as possible!  Take the time to look at labels and consider if this is a good option for you.

Shopping sensibly is a crucial part of keeping a healthy home because if it is not at home you will have a much harder time slipping at those moments of tiredness that we all have.

2. Recognise those moments.  Often we don’t listen to the message our body is telling us or we don’t translate it correctly.  Then we give ourselves a hard time when we ‘give in’ or ‘mess up’.

• Know yourself and your routine.  If there are times in the day when your energy dips then plan for it and have something beforehand.  For mothers this is usually mid-afternoon, before the children come home from school and the supper/homework/bedtime rush.

• Try taking a glass of water or a herbal tea when you find yourself reaching for a snack, sometimes we don’t recognise thirst and instead we think we are hungry.

• Have healthy snacks in the house and stop to eat something small between meals.  Try nuts, mixed seeds, fruit, vegetable sticks or rice cakes with chumous.

• Hang up a list of options for breakfast, lunch, supper and snacks.  This helps when making a shopping list and when we have run out of inspiration.

• Accept that this is REAL life, not some sort of perfect dream like existence.  Let’s observe and acknowledge our accomplishments rather than judging ourselves on what we haven’t yet got ‘right’.

Adaption needs commitment and devotion, because most people take time to change.  And determination to pull through when the reaction isn’t positive and it doesn’t all go as expected.

But we CAN do it.

Tags: Breakfast Lunch, Fruit Vegetable, Glass Of Water, health snacks, Healthy Eating, Healthy Eating Plan, healthy snack, Healthy Snacks, Herbal Tea, New Resolution, parenting advice, parenting tips, Rice Cakes, Vegetable Sticks