Children really do notice what we do...

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free2bfit
free2bfit Posts: 7
in Health and Weight Loss
So, if you don't think your kids notice what or how your are eating they do. Today my mom told me that my oldest daughter (11) said to her the other day "my mom doesn't each much food anymore" It kind of surprised me and I realized "wow, she really does notice" I also felt pretty proud knowing that my changes aren't going unnoticed. I guess I need to be more of an example for my kids and that is just what I am doing now. Just thought I would share... :smile:

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  • ajbeans
    ajbeans Posts: 2,857 Member
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    :) That's awesome! My daughter wants me to make her a "stretchy thing" like my resistance band. I told her that I used mine to get strong muscles, and she wants strong muscles too. I'm just trying to figure out what to make for her that isn't actually going to give resistance but will make her feel like she has the same thing -- she's only 4! :laugh: I don't really think she needs to get buff at her age!
  • aneajo
    aneajo Posts: 287 Member
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    My kids have started looking at the Calories in most things they eat. And they have to exercise
  • melodyg
    melodyg Posts: 1,423 Member
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    :) That's awesome! My daughter wants me to make her a "stretchy thing" like my resistance band. I told her that I used mine to get strong muscles, and she wants strong muscles too. I'm just trying to figure out what to make for her that isn't actually going to give resistance but will make her feel like she has the same thing -- she's only 4! :laugh: I don't really think she needs to get buff at her age!

    I found a Pilates workout with stretchy bands marked down at Barnes and Noble a while back. I have a Leslie Sansone walking video that uses something similar and use it for that. They have 3 different resistance levels. My 5 year old loves to play along...and he is so little that he can't really stretch them out enough to get any resistance, he's just copying what he sees me do. :)
  • kngarber
    kngarber Posts: 227
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    My four year old noticed...but she is just mad. She said "where are all of my snacks?" LOL!
    Yes children def pick up on it and that is one of the main reasons I have started because I didn't want my girls to follow the same nasty pattern I was in.
  • ajbeans
    ajbeans Posts: 2,857 Member
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    My four year old noticed...but she is just mad. She said "where are all of my snacks?" LOL!
    Yes children def pick up on it and that is one of the main reasons I have started because I didn't want my girls to follow the same nasty pattern I was in.

    :laugh: My kids would TOTALLY be the same way! I didn't get rid of their snacks (fruit snacks and graham crackers) because I won't eat them anyway, but I did cut down on how many they're allowed to have. They're not happy. haha
  • krd82
    krd82 Posts: 53
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    The other day I heard my 6 year old say, "Eww I can't eat that I'll get fat". I was like OMG your 6, your matabolizom is through the roof, I promise you will be fine, lol. It wasn't junk but now he thinks everything is going to make him fat.
  • ajbeans
    ajbeans Posts: 2,857 Member
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    I found a Pilates workout with stretchy bands marked down at Barnes and Noble a while back. I have a Leslie Sansone walking video that uses something similar and use it for that. They have 3 different resistance levels. My 5 year old loves to play along...and he is so little that he can't really stretch them out enough to get any resistance, he's just copying what he sees me do. :)

    I might look for a cheapy one. Thanks!
  • jesstroxel
    jesstroxel Posts: 120
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    My kids always wants to know how many calories are in what they eat or if they are eating healthy. They also insist on exercising everyday with me or they do the active games for Wii on my days I workout when they are napping.
  • yosyenid
    yosyenid Posts: 4
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    My 2 & 4 yr old ask me every morning if its time to workout. If I say yes, they go running to their closets and get their "weights and mat" Otherwise known as their toy bowling pins and blankets. They copy whatever they can from the workouts and actually seem to be having fun imitating. I know they are still my babies now, but I hope they incorporate fitness for the long run by seeing my example.
  • hooah_mj
    hooah_mj Posts: 1,004 Member
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    Wish I could take credit for our lifestyle changes and new eating habits, it really all began when my little guy was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes (one week after I lost my dad to the disease), so now we watch and count everything without exception....that has literally become a family battle. Nothing like a life crisis to give you a wake up call.

    Although we live with type I diabetes (juvenile diabetes),
    I sincerely hope that anyone and everyone with children
    will protect them from obesity that can result in type II diabetes.


    "Obesity is such that this generation of children could be the first basically in the history of the United States to live less healthful and shorter lives than their parents,"
    ~Dr. David S. Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children's Hospital Boston

    mj
  • NeuroticVirgo
    NeuroticVirgo Posts: 3,671 Member
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    The other day I heard my 6 year old say, "Eww I can't eat that I'll get fat". I was like OMG your 6, your matabolizom is through the roof, I promise you will be fine, lol. It wasn't junk but now he thinks everything is going to make him fat.

    That's what mine started doing....but it bothered me because she is a twig! And I didn't want her to start turning away food to avoid getting fat (like yours...metabolism through the roof!). So I started watching what I was saying...and instead of saying words like "diet", "fat", "skinny" I switched them for stuff like "fit" & "healthy". Its been a few months since the switch, and her attitude towards food and exercise is already better, and not so pre-teen eating disorder (oh ya...I said it...because I was scared that's exactly the attitude she was going to pick up from me with all my negativity about my body image)
  • NeuroticVirgo
    NeuroticVirgo Posts: 3,671 Member
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    Wish I could take credit for our lifestyle changes and new eating habits, it really all began when my little guy was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes (one week after I lost my dad to the disease), so now we watch and count everything without exception....that has literally become a family battle. Nothing like a life crisis to give you a wake up call.

    Although we live with type I diabetes (juvenile diabetes),
    I sincerely hope that anyone and everyone with children
    will protect them from obesity that can result in type II diabetes.


    "Obesity is such that this generation of children could be the first basically in the history of the United States to live less healthful and shorter lives than their parents,"
    ~Dr. David S. Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children's Hospital Boston

    mj

    Diabetes runs in my family. I was fortunate enough not to get it, but a few of my cousins did. I know most of them wished they're parents would have taught them better eating habits because they are struggling trying to watch their levels.
  • CuteMommy88
    CuteMommy88 Posts: 538 Member
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    This could be a positive or negative thing....Good on the note that kids eat healthier bad if you have a teenager that gets obsessed with calories---trust me as a teenager who had an eating disorder it starts with counting calories....so be careful what you do around your kids because they really do notice everything!!!
  • jllipson
    jllipson Posts: 646
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    The comment about fat and changing words to fit and healthy - that's me lately too - especially with my stepdaughter. Instead of telling her what her mom feeds her will make her fatter (she's already in the mildly obese category unfortunately at 15), we have started telling her that what we fix is healthier and better for her. Also explaining that what she wants is not healthy and that we are not dieting, we have decided to make a lifestyle change that we will follow (hopefully) for the rest of our lives.

    My daughters are 2 and 4 and the 4 year old demands nightly that "we have to do our exercises". They usually participates for about 10 minutes, there are days I have to explain exactly what I did to have already done exercise without her. For example Friday nights I clean an office building 3-4 hours of continuous cleaning. She has now learned that's not an at home exercise night for me. She doesn't even mention exercise on my "long work day" anymore...

    4 year old also told me the other day, mommy you're getting skinny your pants are falling off (not literally, but she noticed me pulling them up because I didn't have a belt in them and they were sliding.

    Love my Girls! And my hubby for his motivation - and of course my sister and her hubby for introducing me to this very helpful site!
  • NeuroticVirgo
    NeuroticVirgo Posts: 3,671 Member
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    My daughters are 2 and 4 and the 4 year old demands nightly that "we have to do our exercises".

    I love when kids are the one keeping the grown ups on track! lol
  • hooah_mj
    hooah_mj Posts: 1,004 Member
    Options
    Wish I could take credit for our lifestyle changes and new eating habits, it really all began when my little guy was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes (one week after I lost my dad to the disease), so now we watch and count everything without exception....that has literally become a family battle. Nothing like a life crisis to give you a wake up call.

    Although we live with type I diabetes (juvenile diabetes),
    I sincerely hope that anyone and everyone with children
    will protect them from obesity that can result in type II diabetes.


    "Obesity is such that this generation of children could be the first basically in the history of the United States to live less healthful and shorter lives than their parents,"
    ~Dr. David S. Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children's Hospital Boston

    mj

    Diabetes runs in my family. I was fortunate enough not to get it, but a few of my cousins did. I know most of them wished they're parents would have taught them better eating habits because they are struggling trying to watch their levels.

    Isn't that the truth...it has got to start when they very young and without the negative influences that
    CuteMommy88 posted about. Without a healthy perspective children can suffer needless and devastating effects. :brokenheart: :cry:

    Type II runs rampant in my immediate and extended family, so much so that the youngest in our generation, at 32 yoa, just suffered a major heart attack from complications stemming from type II diabetes...so so sad.:cry: & AVOIDABLE :huh:

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