I am so sorry I have not posted in here for awhile. We had a death in the family last week and it kept me away until Sunday and then my oldest had the stomach bug. Not pretty.
But I am back!
I found that one thing that amazes me as a mother is the perceptiveness of children. I saw it all the time as a teacher. Kids are such good judges of character. They can tell authenticity and a genuine spirit. They know if something seems off. And boy oh boy are they like sponges. They soak in so much. They are constantly watching what we adults are doing, making sure our words and actions match.
Hudson amazes me at what he has picked up since my family has really incorporated exercise and healthy eating into our lifestyle. When he sees me get a box in the mail he asks if it's my shakeology. When I'm making dinner he asks what vegetable we are having. When I call them for snack he asks if it's a pantry snack or not. (My kids get two snacks a day typically and one is always fresh and the other is more of a treat like graham crackers, granola bar, fruit leathers, etc)
At the store when we are grocery shopping he asks if certain foods will make him strong and "healfy". He asks me if it's time to workout. The kid is watching me!
When I first started working out I would try to do my workouts during my kids' nap time. I generally still do that but some days that doesn't work out do to our schedule and some days it doesn't work because Hudson just doesn't nap that day. In the beginning I would try to get them distracted so I could go get my sweat on but they would come find me around the corner, want to join. So I'd pause it, take them back to their activity. It really interrupted my workout. Plus it felt mean to constantly say, "Go play! I'm almost done!" The more I thought about it, the more I realized how WRONG I was. I am preaching to everyone to be healthy but yet I am not engaging my kids?! Ummm...hello, Bekah! That makes no sense.
What I learned was that if my boys were awake during a workout, I would let them know I was working out. If they wanted to join we would talk about staying in our space {safety first}. And then we would just go. I'd have to look over when they cried, "Look at me, mama!" but I didn't have to stop 100 times. Sometimes they would last the whole time but typically they would lose interest and go play. It was so much less of a battle than trying to stop them from joining me. And I loved that Hudson would show me his muscles after a workout {and Beau would try and imitate}.
Our kids are watching us. They are learning from our behaviors. Is what we are showing them positive or negative? More than that, is what they are hearing from us about our bodies and our health positive or negative?
Just the other day Hudson was watching my husband set up his workout and he said, "Grown-ups have to work out so they don't get too big." I could have dismissed that comment but instead I asked what he meant. He said. "too big like my belly gets so big after dinner." {sticking is stomach out} I took that moment to tell him that no one should get too big. That we have to keep our bodies healthy because God made us to do lots of fun things. But if we eat good foods we won't get too big and it is good to eat good foods.
My little boys are my constant reminder to be healthy. I don't want to miss anything. And I don't want them growing up to a slew of health problems because I didn't show them, teach them, how to eat well and be active. They are watching me. I need to be the best example I can be for them. In both words and actions.
No comments:
Post a Comment