Raising Healthy Families
Part 1 of 4 in the Raising Healthy Families series, exploring practical ways to build wellbeing at home.
Raising healthy humans is a tough job, and there is no shortage of advice regarding how to get the task done. From “quick tips” to “top hacks,” the internet abounds with strategies and ways to raise a health-forward family: active, eating clean, getting good rest. And in our overstressed, immediacy-based culture, there is definitely a strong temptation to cycle through these “easy” trends. I’ve been there. But the hard truth is, maintaining your own wellbeing, let alone the wellbeing of others, is, in fact, hard. There is no hack or trick. As a parent of a big family, there is no shortage of wrenches waiting to be thrown into my best laid plan. To maintain my own sanity while raising healthy kids, I have had to learn several lessons.
To Have a Health-Forward Family
To have a health-forward family, you necessarily have to create an environment that is supportive and balanced, which ultimately encourages and promotes physical, emotional, social, and mental wellbeing. I will share what I have learned to be the most impactful things I can do as a parent to promote overall health and wellbeing in my family.
#1 - Model
If you are of a certain age, you might recall the 80s PSA commercial of a dad approaching his son with a cigar box filled with drug paraphernalia, asking him, “Who taught you how to do this stuff?” And the teen son replies, “I learned it by watching you.” The tagline being, “Parents who use drugs have kids who use drugs.” While that tagline is a bit of an overstatement, the underlying message has merit. Your children are watching and learning from you more than you might think.
This might feel like quite a bit of pressure, particularly if you are on your own wellness journey. But it is important to keep in mind that being a healthy model doesn’t mean you have to be a perfect model. Forming new habits is challenging-and your children don’t need to see you be perfect; they need to see and be inspired by your efforts.
This is the difference between:
I must eat five fruits and vegetables a day so my kids will.
I will try different fruits and vegetables. I hope my kids will be inspired to do the same.
Closing Thoughts
This is about living your talk, which is far more powerful than talk itself. Even in our modern age, when it seems like kids are more connected than ever to influencers and peers, you are their lighthouse. Embody the person you would like them to be.
If you’re working on your own health habits and could use a little support, Avidon’s can help you build consistency and stay motivated. You can explore it with a free demo and see how small, sustained behavior changes make a big difference.
