“What do the rest of you do to help your kids stay active and healthy?”
It is simple. Don’t give them crap food. How hard is it? They won’t eat good food? Just wait a few hours. They’ll eat. They’ll be hungry. Here – these are the things we have to eat. Period. My kids didn’t see, touch, or taste candy until they were at least 3.
What is the 5 year old going to do? Drive to the store and get some candy? I don’t think so. Scream and throw a fit? Well, maybe for a day or two, but eventually the kid will just eat. Start this young and never give in.
Halloween? Have you heard of the Halloween Fairy? Well, every year, you take a couple pieces of candy from your bag to eat, and leave the rest of your candy on the doorstep. The Halloween Fairy takes it and leaves you a kick-ass toy.
I’m telling you – I’m a Nazi when it comes to crap food. Well, for the kids anyway. I eat alot of it. Double standard you say? No. Clear-cut standard. Kids don’t eat crap food. Adults eat what they want. Don’t like it? Gonna throw a fit? Go ahead. I’ll watch. When you are an adult, you can eat whatever you want, too. Of course, the kids don’t really know I eat crap food, so it isn’t an issue.
Soda? Only dad drinks soda. Period. After 5 years of not having soda – my kids won’t even try it. Just for fun – I tried to get them to try a Coke the other day. “No thanks!” they said. Heh, heh, heh. I won that one. Why? Because I never gave them soda.
My wife does “new food Saturday” and they try something new every Saturday. We are about 5 weeks into this. The first time, one of them CRIED because she had to try something new. Now, she just accepts it and tries it, though reluctantly. Kids learn to accept new rules if you stick to your guns.
Because we don’t regularly give them crap food (or let them watch more than 1/2 hour of TV a day, we have more power over them in case of “emergency.” If we absolutely need our kids to be occupied for two or three hours, we can sit them in front of a two-hour movie and they will watch it start-to-finish without moving. Why? Because the TV isn’t on ALL THE TIME!! It is very, very special to watch TV. Other kids – you put on the TV and they watch for a while, then they roam around the house looking for Mom. Why? Cuz its on ALL THE TIME.
When I need my kids to do something new or scary or challenging, I can bribe them with a single Oreo. It is amazing. Just today they did something great – I gave them each 4 M&Ms and you would think I bought them a new car. Why? Because they only get it occasionally. They know not to ask for it, and they know to give us their candy from parties and school before they eat it.
