They Are Always Watching: How Our Habits Influence Our Childrens’ Health

Parenting is HARD. Really hard. We spend so much time making sure that our children are safe, fed, happy, and sometimes clean. We read books, listen to podcasts, and constantly Google answers to common parenting woes. We talk to our friends to see what works well for their families and try to establish a good routine for our children. This takes a lot of time and effort. Then, at the end of the day, we are so tired that we watch the clock for our children’s bedtime so we can get that much-deserved break after they are sweetly drooling themselves into dreamland.

In between all the time we commit to our children, we are trying to fit all the other necessary things into our already jam-packed days. Work, laundry, mowing, cooking, cleaning, socialization (if we are lucky)… the list goes on and on. The lack of time during the day often causes us to sacrifice one of the most important things we can give to our children: modeling good health.

Most of my clients tell me that the biggest barrier to not reaching their health goals is “lack of time.” What they don’t realize is that when they rush through the drive-thru for dinner instead of preparing a balanced meal or choose the couch instead of the much-needed walk, the kids are watching. Our kids will develop habits that WE model, even if we are nailing the “routine.” If we choose fast food instead of a meal consisting of veggies/fruit, protein, and complex carbohydrates, they learn that eating fast food is “normal” and acceptable. If we turn on the tv when we get home from a long day of work and sit on the couch to unwind, they will develop a preference for screentime over physical activity.

According to a study published in Nutrients in 2022 (HERE), large quantities of ultra-processed foods have significantly contributed to the obesity epidemic in America and across the Western world. These foods contain little to no whole food ingredients. The hard part? These foods are EVERYWHERE. My daughter and I went swimming at a local recreation center yesterday. She begged me to visit the “venting” (vending) machine after our swim. As she pulled me over to see what was in the machine I saw a rainbow of colors. Colors of candy wrappers and chip bags packed with preservatives, sugars, and other artificial ingredients. Have you ever seen a neon red-orange fruit, vegetable, grain or meat? No, this product is not nature-made. Society has put this processed food in front of our faces making it all too convenient to have “just one.”

So where does it end? With YOU. You are the parent. You work so hard to model behaviors and establish routines that will hopefully result in the evolution of a semi-decent human, why not put in the effort to make sure that the human is HEALTHY too? When you start to focus on YOUR health – including eating nutritious foods and getting regular movement, your kids will do the same. My daughter and I recently started a routine of walking our dog together early in the morning before it gets too hot outside. I have noticed that this snaps my daughter out of asking me for screentime and puts us both in a good mood, at least for the next hour ;)

So next time you have a choice to make between convenience or something that benefits the health of you AND your family, remember, they are always watching.