Do We Teach Our Kids Bad Food Habits?

It's 7:00 am, and you're late for work. The kids are just now ready for school, and no one has had time to think about breakfast. Oh, well, they're not hungry anyway, and neither are you. We'll just skip breakfast. You instruct them to eat good at lunch when they're at school, and everybody's off.

Lunchtime arrives and you're just not that hungry. Maybe a quick snack bar, a diet soda, and back to work. Do you ever wonder what your kids are eating for lunch? Have they come to the same conclusion?

Alright, time to prepare dinner, and time is short. You have three places to be in order to get everybody to practice, pickup the cleaning, and then on home. On the way to the cleaners you realize dinner is going to be a lite one if you fix what you have at home. Where to stop? How about pizza and soda? Or maybe the kids would like burgers and fries. While you try to decide what to provide for dinner, the kids have finished practice and they're starving. The gym has a food dispenser for snacks and sodas, and so they load up on candy bars and coke.

It's 6:45 pm and you've made the last stop on the child pickup train. Everybody's loaded up and ready to go home. You've decided to stop for pizza, already called your order in, and it's ready when you stop by.

Is this your typical day? If so, you're among the vast majority of Americans. We all spend our days in a constant rush, with very little thought given to our nutritional needs, and much given to the convenience of what we eat. But do you realize in short-cutting your meal needs, you're teaching your children that same habit?
We all read the articles about proper nutrition and our health, and we make the association between eating right and living longer, more healthful lives. But we don't practice what we read. We certainly don't ever stop to think about how much of our day is spent without any nutritional input at all.

Our children grow into adults, and we wonder why they look a little pale, or less than robust and healthy. They live in a world filled with stress, no exercise, and unhealthy eating habits. What do we really expect?

It's our responsibility to take the time and while we teach our children good morals, good work ethics, and the values of family, to also teach them the importance of taking care of themselves. What good really are all the other values we try to instill if we teach them bad habits in taking care of themselves? What kind of quality do their lives have if they aren't healthy and able to enjoy life?

So, as you rush home you make a mental note to improve your menu choices, tomorrow. You'll take more time in preparing the meals they eat, and the food choices you put before them. Teach them to look for nutritional value while seeking out convenience. Tomorrow.