Ten Things Children Can Teach Us About Staying Active

1. You don't need music or a dance floor to dance.



2. Skirts are meant for twirling.



3. Climbing trees and building treehouses is a great form of exercise.



4. You don't need a car to go places, all you need is your own two legs.



5. If you need to get somewhere fast, ride a bike.



6. Running is not just for exercise; it's also for fun things like playing tag.



7. Any hill, no matter how small, is great for jumping off of.



8. Water was meant for splashing in.



9. There is never a suitable reason not to climb on the climbing frames at playgrounds.



10. Never give up your sense of playfulness.

Children's Voices

In this post from MizFit, many of us were challenged to video our children while they answered what they thought the meanings of three words were. Those words were exercise, strong and support. I was supposed to post the results here on the 13th of August, but of course, I am rarely organized enough to do things on time, so I am now posting the video results 6 days late.

First, I interviewed my 7 year old daughter.



Then I interviewed my 5 year old daughter. She decided once the camera was on her that she really didn't want to do the video and had a bit of a tantrum, so I never did get her to tell us her thoughts.



Last, I interviewed my son who will be turning 4 years old in 11 days from now. I don't think he really knew how to explain the meaning of words, and he didn't really know what the word "support" meant, but at least he tried to give his answers.

Obesity & Children - No More Excuses!

This is a topic that is on my mind a lot as record numbers of children are becoming classed as obese in both America and in the United Kingdom. How can this happen? Aren't parents supposed to be in control of what food is in their home and how much a child is allowed to eat? Aren't parents the ones who prepare their children's meals? As parents, don't we love our kids enough to feed them properly with good nutritious food? Because that's what is comes down to. If you love your child, you will make sure that most of what she eats is nutritious and healthy, full of all of the nutrients and vitamins that she needs and lacking in things like sugar.

I know that, for some, it is not as cut-and-dried as that. I do know that it can be more expensive to buy healthy, fresh food. I know that our kids plead with us on numerous occasions to buy them sugar-laden food, and I know that for some parents, the time it takes to prepare a meal from scratch is a luxury they don't often have.

But I also know that some things in life are more important than all of the excuses that we rely on to keep us from feeling bad for not doing something. The health of our children should be a huge priority in our lives. And that means feeding them healthy meals and limiting the junk food they are allowed to eat. So here are some tips to help us make sure that we do everything we can for our children's health and that we keep those excuses at bay.

Excuse #1 - Healthy, fresh food is too expensive.

Solutions:

- Grow your own fruit and vegetables. You don't even need a yard of your own in order to do this. Some properly sized planting pots and hanging baskets can be enough to help you grow fruit, vegetable and herbs of your own.

- Re-use left-overs to create numerous meals from the same ingredients.

- Buy generic brands. Sometimes they are just as good as the more expensive brand name products, and the nutrition, in many instances, is just as good.

- Buy in bulk. Certain fresh ingredients can be bought in bulk and frozen in order to use later, and buying in bulk often costs less per item bought.

Excuse 2 - My child likes junk food, and they beg and plead for it all of the time.

Solutions:

- Be a parent. Part of being a parent is telling your children "no" when it is in their best interests. You don't have to eliminate junk food from your child's diet, but you should definitely limit it.

- Don't use sweets as a "treat." You don't want your child to be associating sugar-laden, non-nutitrious food as a reward or a special occasion, and giving it to him as a treat or a reward will just enforce the idea in his mind that good times equal sugar (or fast food or whatever unhealthy food you are using).

- Make sure your child can have nutritious fresh food on hand to take the place of the junk food they are craving. Fresh fruit is naturally sweet and filling at the same time. I know very few children who will turn down something as sweet and delicious as strawberries, for example, and strawberries are GOOD for your child to eat.

Excuse #3 - I don't have time to prepare healthy meals or to cook from scratch.

Solutions:

- Batch cook ahead of time. Take one day, maybe Saturday or Sunday (or whatever day you have the most free time) and cook the whole week's meals and then freeze it all, ready to be microwaved or reheated in the oven when you need it.

- Chop and freeze your fresh vegetables needed for cooking ahead of time. For example, if you will be making a lot of dishes that required diced onions during the week, then chop and dice some onion ahead of time and freeze it in freezer bags in the serving sizes that you will need for the meals.

- Measure out and portion your ingredients ahead of time. For example, you can do this with grated cheese. To keep yourself from using more cheese than a recipe calls for, measure out the portions you need into individual bags and store it in the fridge (or freezer) ready to use.

- Use your crockpot (slow cooker). If you wake up early enough in the morning, you can prepare the entire meal and start it cooking before you even leave the house for work in the morning, and by evening, a hot, healthy meal will be ready for you and your children. (Also, by then, the house will smell delicous!)

These are just a few solutions. I hope they are helpful. I'll tackle ways to help your kids be more physically active in a later post.

Finding The Fun In Exercising With Your Children

Last Saturday, Robert, the children and I all went for a picnic in the park. Our friend Helen came too and brought three of her four children. She also goes to Slimming World with us, so we made sure to pack healthy food for our lunch.

It was a wonderfully fun day out in the sunshine, and we found various ways to get some exercise that felt more like fun than exercise. I, for one, was walking around after the children all day trying to capture photos and video of them, so I got a lot of walking done that day. (I also got a mild sunburn, despite the sunblock I had applied before we went out.)

Here is a short video clip showing just a small amount of the many ways we found to exercise without feeling like we were exercising. Helen rolled down the hill with the kids, Kayla (one of my teenage daughters) chased after little Cameron, Robert carried Cameron on his shoulders for a bit of weight training, and Helen pushed the children on the swings. There were lots of other ways that we played with the children and managed to be exercising at the same time, but the video would have been too long if I shared them all!



What things do you do with the kids that could count as exercise?

You Are Beautiful NOW!

My friend Barb, over at Barb's Bookshelf, recently posted on a topic
that I, too, feel strongly about. Her post about true beauty reminded me that I had intended to write on this topic too.

As a mother of seven children, five of whom are girls, I find myself horrified by the images that the media portrays as "normal." The idea of one of my children trying to achieve the size of a fashion model is actually horrifying. I point out to them often where the pictures have been airbrushed and digitally manipulated so they can know that the perfect skin, bright eyes, and shiny hair is not what the model really looks like. I worry that they will see these models or tv actresses as some ideal to try and attain, so I make sure they know that what they are seeing isn't even REAL.

I encourage my kids and praise them regularly. It's easy to do as they are all so clever, creative and kind. I tell them how beautiful they are and how much they are loved. Sometimes, as our kids get older, we assume they know that we love them, but they need to hear it, and hear it often. If they know that, at home, they are loved, then it helps them find the courage to face the rest of the world. Loving your kids and making sure they know it is like dressing them in protective armour against any negativity they may encounter out in the world.

In the world of weight loss, feeling beautiful can often be a tricky subject. I've lost 117 pounds so far. In 18.5 more pounds, I will reach a healthy BMI. That's how I chose the amount of weight I wanted to lose, by aiming for what should be a healthy weight. But having lost so much weight, I have first-hand experience on how difficult it can be to feel confident and sexy when carrying around so much extra weight. Sometimes people say cruel things, but far crueler are the things we tell ourselves.

That inner voice can really be an enemy to your self-confidence. But, with a little effort, you can make that same inner voice your friend. Catch yourself when you are being negative and change the negative thought to something positive. It is likewise with the things we say about ourselves around our kids. Do you want your daughter to hear you saying things like, "I'm too fat," "I can't do that," "It's too hard," "I have no control," "I can't eat that," "I'm stupid" and other comments along this vein, or would you rather they hear you saying things like "I feel great today," "Doesn't this dress look great on me?" "I can do anything," "Yummy! That looks great," "Nothing is too hard," "Let's go play outside today" and things along that vein? Change what you say inside and change what you say outside. Your children will emulate you. Give them someone confident and happy in herself to emulate.

There's a wonderful movement called Operation Beautiful. According to the site,

The mission of Operation Beautiful is to post anonymous notes in public places for other women to find. The point is that WE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL. You are enough... just the way you are!

Women from all over the world are posting notes in random places with encouraging statements for others to find. I love this idea!

My body has changed a lot since my early 20s, and not all of it for the better. My belly has a lot of loose, hanging skin and is covered in stretch marks that cover it in fine lines that branch out resembling a roadmap. I have a huge scar reaching diagonally just below my ribs from a surgery I had after one of my pregnancies. But each of these visual attributes is a gift. My belly stretched out in order to carry my many babies. It developed those stretch marks in its attempt to make room for the cradling of all seven of my children individually. It housed them and nourished them each for nine months. It did it's job, and it did it well. They are marks of love.

My friend Barb talks about her laugh lines and states possessively that she "earned" them. I agree with her. Laugh lines are wonderful to see. They are a sign that a life has been a happy one, full of laughter and smiles. I'm earning some laugh lines of my own, and I'm glad to do so!

Everyone carries some insecurities. Wouldn't it be a great world if others bolstered our egos instead of tearing them down? Or the media decided to use real models with healthy-sized bodies and leave any airbrushing or digital manipulation out? We need to be each others' strength. We need to be the person who says to others,"You're beautiful." Because everyone IS beautiful. Everyone has their own form of beauty, and the important beauty, the beauty that can make the world a better place, is the beauty we find inside.

Everyone should get the chance to feel beautiful right now and not wait until they've reached some ideal in their head of what they want to look like.

In Barb's True Beauty post, she says,

True beauty is not simply what’s on the surface. When you feel good about yourself and who you are, when you carry yourself with confidence and self-acceptance, that makes you beautiful. Beauty is in the mind, not in the body.

I couldn't say that any better!

Wii Bit Of Exercise!

Hope everyone had a terrific Christmas!

We bought a Wii and a Wii Fit for Christmas. We haven't used the Wii Fit yet, but we have been playing some sports on the Wii.

Gabby, my 6 year old daughter, was playing with our Wii today - the boxing game. It was so funny to watch! Little kids really make the Wii into an exercise art! Robert used his new Flip MinoHD to video her. Please watch this if you want a bit of a laugh (he put it to music and added it to his blog): http://diaperblues.blogspot.com/2008/12/you-know-when-all-you-parenting-has.html (Oh, and comment if you find it funny. His blog needs some comments in it.)

Too bad uploading video to YouTube lowers the quality. The Flip creates beautiful videos! Dh is really pleased with it. (I show a link to the one I bought him in my Christmas post in my family blog http://gigglesandkisses.blogspot.com.) (You'll have to copy and paste the links as I still have not figured out how to make them clickable.)

Not Giving Myself Any Excuses

I have trouble believing it too! LOL!

I was up all night with my 3 year old Isabella last night. She woke up crying at ten minutes to 1:00am because she'd thrown up all over herself and her bed. I showered her, changed her clothes and rinsed all of the bedding and clothing in the shower while Robert put new sheets on her bed and found her another blanket.

20 minutes later we went through it all again, depsite having given her a bowl. She used the bowl, but then said she was done and threw up more while I took the bowl to rinse out.

So, prepared with TWO bowls, we put her back to bed. After she threw up 15 minutes and 20 minutes apart again, I went downstairs with her and cuddled with her on the couch. By this time, she was mostly dry-heaving with a bit of bile at the end.

I was up with her all night. She went back into her bed at 7:00am this morning, and threw up again at 8:15am, which was the longest stretch she has gone between bouts. I am hoping she sleeps even longer this time before being hit by it again. Or better yet, doesn't get sick again. Poor, poor Bella!

But, I'm mentioning all of this to point out that I am exhausted and the fatty, sugary foods are really calling to me! I have even considered not doing my work-out today because on top of my hips hurting, I am just so completely tired. But I told myself I would not allow any excuses, and I am not. So I will do my workout today, and I will avoid the sugary, bad-for-me food that is really calling to me right now. (Seriously, I am so tired and stressed, I just want to stuff my face! But I won't!)