Invite a child to a party and they’ll want to know what they are going to get to do. Invite an adult and they'll wonder what food will be served. You don't have to avoid parties to manage your weight; just focus on the real purpose of social events – to be social!
11. Eating with your family is fun
Since babies and toddlers must be fed by their parents, they naturally love eating with other people. Family mealtime is your opportunity to model good habits and connect with each other. Now that my children are older, we sometimes play "High-Low" at dinner. Each member of the family takes a turn telling the others about the best and worst parts of their day. What a door opener to great conversations.
12. Being active is natural
The best gym in the world is the playground. Too bad most adults have learned to associate physical activity with punishment for eating. Our kids will learn to hate it too if they hear us say things like, "I was bad so I have to exercise for an extra half-hour."
13. It's boring to just sit around!
Toddlers seem to be in perpetual motion while they are constantly exploring their world. Young kids love to run in the grass, play on the playground, and challenge themselves and each other to increasingly more difficult activities. Of course, as they get older, television, computers, and electronic games compete for their attention. In our family, to encourage other activities, we use "screen time" which limits how much time our children are allowed to spend on anything with a screen. Sometimes adults would benefit by limiting their screen time and exploring their world a little more.
14. Sleep is good
After a full day, children need a good night's sleep to prepare for all of the adventures that tomorrow will hold. Wouldn't we all benefit from a consistent bedtime to make sure we get our rest too?
15. Live in the moment
Kids are masters at living in the present. They don't waste a lot of energy worrying about what has already happened or what might happen tomorrow. They are fully engaged in small pursuits like discovering where the ants are going, chasing the dog, or seeing how deep they can dig with a plastic shovel. We, on the other hand, continue to scurry around, chasing after our dreams, and all the while, digging ourselves deeper and deeper. We can learn a lot from children!
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Michelle May, M.D., family physician and author of Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat: How To Break Your Eat-Repent-Repeat Cycle, children make for the perfect teacher to help us eat more mindfully because children are born with the ability to eat instinctively as they are fully tuned-in to internal cues of hunger and fullness.
