People with children....

limit juice to one cip a day,

ahhh ... you mean 1 sippie cup a day or an actual SIP of juice each day???

My 11 year old is in dance. My 8 year old is in scouts and baseball. My 5 year old, 3 year old, and 1 year old are happiest when they play outside. I give them healthy food choices and gently guide them away from unhealthy food choices.

I think it has a good deal to do with what they see from us the parents. If they see us parents actively exercising, eating healthy then they will in most cases follow that example. My problem when I was growing up, there was always cookies, chips and other junk food in the house, so that it was I ate. I did not eat veggies when I was young either.

I knew a family that only allowed their children to have sweets and junk food only on the weekends. That way, the kids ate good, health foods over 90%. They didn't mind because they knew they would get their weekend treat.

They also had their kids involved in dance classes and sports.

Don't freak and make it a big deal. Make everything seem "normal" for your family. Integrate in the health habits you want.

My boys are 4 and 5 months. My oldest has been involved in gym classes since he was a year old and is in several sports as well. We go outside every day before dinner to play or walk.

He enjoys fruits and veggies (thankfully!) and does eat very healthily with an occasional treat. My biggest factor though, is asking if his "tummy is full" so he can learn to listen to his body. I never make him finish his plate. I'm terrified of him becoming overweight, which is a large motivating factor in me becoming healthy as well.

I have a two year old. She eats what we eat, except when she's in school. There, she usually eats her salad and veggies, some whole wheat bread/rolls and not much of anything else. Once she's old enough, she'll be taking swimming lessons and martial arts classes (not optional, especially for girls, IMO). We were pretty active before she was born, and as she is more able to keep up, we'll resume hiking.

My daughter is almost 15. I dont allow her to play video games that do not require her to get up and move. She doesnt watch tv during the week and I limit her junk food snacks to once or twice a week. She is also not allowed soda but once or twice a week. I try not to make a big deal about calories just making a more healthy choice and limiting portions. I dont want to give her a complex. I also take her to the gym with me to lift and we do zumba together. We only eat out two or three times a month otherwise I cook and I dont let her eat school lunches she takes left overs from home.

My son is a 1 year old very picky eater. I'm trying real hard to make him eat well and try different things but you know, he's not interested :noway:

I encourage my children to play outside as much as possible. They see me exercise most days.

They don't have to eat all their food if they are not hungry!! There is always a fruit bowl available for picking as and when they want. Every dinner has got vegetables included. Also, we don't use food as treats, rather give them special days out etc.

Sweets and crisps are mostly limited to a Saturday, there is never any question about it. It's just the way it is.

They are 2 and 6, I have no worries about their health.

I pretty much let mine eat whatever they want (2.5 yr old twins) because I don't want to make any food "evil." My mother kind of did that to me and I honesty think it had an impact on me and caused a lot of my over eating issues. I require healthier foods first and then "treats" after. But most importantly I try to put the focus on being active and food moderation (1 piece of candy not 10). I would like for mine to grow up viewing food as fuel for their activities and not as a reward or the focus of all events.

I also want to say my kids take their own lunches as well to school. The school menus are horrendous.

I try to buy healthier choices for their snacks; however, just like me I do buy "junk" (e.g. a pack of cookies, or chips etc). For lunch/snack they're allowed to have something like a sandwhich or equivalent with 1-2 pieces of fruit and one "junk" food option. If it's cookies, I let them have 2-3 depending on the size. Chips are usually in the small individual bags.

Each of them gets to help me cook dinner at night (they take turns). They're learning how to measure out serving sizes and about portion control. I was a proud mama when my 11 year old told me her teacher brought up serving sizes to their classroom one day and she was able to contribute to the conversation! Her teacher was impressed that she knew about reading the nutrion labels etc.

In summary, I'm trying to teach them to eat with moderation. If you want a cookie, you can have a cookie. Just not the entire package. Fruit and veggies (which they love) should be the first choice they make when they want to snack on something. If they're thirsty, they're allowed to drink water (I do have generic Crystal Light for them) and milk. They see where I've ended up making the decisions in my life. They don't want to end up there and are excited learning with me on this journey.

I have 5 children and a granddaughter: 22, 20, 12, 9, 7, 3 (grandbaby). I have 1 son, he's the 9 year old and is the most excited to work out at night with me.

My daughter currently is almost 19.

But, when she was young, we made it a point never - EVER to have junk food in the house. No juice (she had very bad dermatological problems and urinary problems - even when it was watered down), no junk foods, NO KRAFT MACARONI AND CHEESE, no preprocessed/prepackaged junk food.. .real food. Every day, real food.

I made a game where we took a really colorful and fun hat and we would create a list of seven new foods (one to try per day).

1.) fruit
2.) vegetable
3.) meat
4.) seafood
5.) Chinese
6.) Mexican The three types of dishes here would change week to week.
7.) Italian

Ariel would pull one piece of paper out of the hat - whatever was on that paper is what we either made or shopped for.

One time she picked lobster. She was VERY excited about this I mean, what kid doesnt love going to see them in the big tank, right?

We steamed up some lobsters, had sliced lemons on the side, made a nice garden salad to go with it, and a cup of vegetable soup on the side.

My daughter tried the lobster meat from the tail and the claw to start. She liked the claw better but, she asked about the 'green' stuff. I told her the truth about what it was (she was age 6 at the time), she asked me if she could try it where it wasnt on the list.. I laughed and told her "absolutely!".. she LIKED IT!!!!!! She had to call up her greatgrandfather to tell him because she knew he eats that. He was giggling so hard and so proud of her too!

Every piece of paper that we tried, we marked on a big calendar. The day we had lobster, that paper was glued to it. She would either put a star for 'LOVED" or a checkmark for "LIKED".. At the end of the week, if she tried each new food/item every day, we would give her a little prize (a new book, a coloring book, new hair accessories), something to acknowledge we were proud of her trying a new item. But the prize had to be non-food related....

Fastforward to almost 19... she still eats very healthy, enjoys exotic foods and dishes (she is a big fan of Takoyaki) and still tries new foods when offered.

You have to start young with them.. and you have to make it fun for them, otherwise it will come off as almost punishment-like...depending on how you approach it of course

I have a 7 and 3 year old. We eat healthy meals we make together and stay very active. We also have lots of conversations about making healthy choices, and what's a healthy choice and what is not. I also don't buy juice (except sparkling juice) and if we have juice it is a special occasion. They usually just drink water and almond milk. They watch and join me and DH when we do a exercise video tape or run on treadmill. We go hiking and do lots of outdoor activities. We also have a garden so there are lots of conversations around what we are planting and how it fuels our body. DS#1 plays ice hockey and football as well as lots of other outside things. DS#2 tries to keep up with older brother and is learning to ice Skate. Don't get me wrong we still have candy and pizza is a favorite here but all in moderation. And cooked veggies are not a favorite of the kids but they do love all the raw veggies they can get.

In the end it is up to them how they will decided to live their life, so we will see if any of this helps or hurts...

My daughter is two-three in a couple months and she eats pretty much whatever I eat. She eats really healthy but I also give her chocolates, candy, and cake in moderation. She has an intense love for chips, so I let her have some if we are out to eat, which isn't often. We play outside everyday. Even if its just playing with chalk outside, but we go to the park alot and she is already physically more capable than most kids her age. We are going to put her in a soccer program this summer if we can find one close by. If not I was going to sign her up for (hopefully) a hip-hop or jazz dance class. If not... I guess ballet will do, but I would rather have her in something more fast paced, as she is pretty ADHD.

I already have plans for my 8 month old to be a long distance runner. She seems to have gotten the runner side of my families genetics. I'm probably going to start her pretty young, at about 1 1/2 - 2 or so with going on walks with me and seeing how she likes running and just go from there. When I was pregnant with my first daughter I woulld jog around a track by my house and two days a week there would be 3-8 year olds racing around the track and it was just sooo cute. Which is why I want to start her so early. Gia (2 year old) Doesn't have a good body type to run. She would be better in Volleyball/soccer/softball/martial arts. She is more of a power house type, even at this age.

So yeah, my children will probably always have a balanced diet and love for sports.

*We are also going to start taking our older daughter to do indoor rock climbing because she would enjoy something like that.