Your daughter comes home from school in tears. “I’m tired of those kids picking on me!” You listen compassionately as she recounts the taunting and teasing from classmates who make fun of her for her weight. You feel helpless as you observe the emotional pain she is suffering. You don’t know what to do.
1. Boost Confidence
The last thing you want to do is make your child’s weight an issue. Putting her on a diet is not the answer. Diets don’t work for adults, and they certainly don’t work for our kids. What your son or daughter needs is some confidence boosters!
Negative comments by others are hurtful, especially to our children who are still learning about themselves. How can you help? Focus on the characteristics that stand out in your child. Is she kind to others? Praise her for that! Is he good at playing soccer? Let him know how impressed you are with his abilities! Does she show respect to adults? Tell her how proud you are about that!
Most often, we tend to focus on the things that bother us about our children, rather than make a positive fuss over the things we love and appreciate. We harp on the things we don’t like, but it doesn’t change behavior! In fact, it does just the opposite, deflating a fragile self-esteem and fueling a sense of inadequacy.
Children respond to positive feedback! When they are praised for something they do well, they feel good about themselves and are inclined to repeat the behavior. Your positive messages helps to develop self-esteem and build confidence! When a child feels good about herself, she is more inclined to make better choices that she knows are good for her, such as choosing an apple for a snack rather than a bag of chips.
2. Create the Scene for Success
While you may not have much control over what your child eats outside of the home, you most certainly can create an environment at home that supports a healthy lifestyle. Why purchase junk foods that are tempting and hard to resist? You can’t expect your child to choose a fruit cup when there are goldfish in the cabinet. Get rid of the foods that sabotage a healthy lifestyle. Instead, stock up on colorful fruits and vegetables. Find simple and healthier recipes online that you and your family can cook. Try substituting white flour products with whole grains. Use lean meats. Have nuts and cheese, or raw veggies and hummus available for quick snacks.
You have the power to influence your child’s food choices by changing the environment in your home. By changing the environment, you are creating a scene for success!
3. Be the Example
Kids are much more likely to respond to what they see you doing, rather than what they hear you saying. Why fuss at your child for eating large portions at meals, when you may be doing the same? Is it realistic to expect your child to eat any differently than how they see you eating? Do you want your child to be healthy? Than it is up to you to be healthy yourself. There is no easy way around it. You have to set the example first, and your child will follow suit.
Fighting childhood obesity is no easy feat. But you can make a big difference with your child with these suggested tips. Boost confidence, create an environment for success, and be the example. Be a parent who fights back!
The alarm rings earlier than usual this morning. 4:10 to be exact. I am meeting a group of ladies to run the bridge with them. I rouse myself to the kitchen to steep some hot tea while I shower. It seems silly to take a shower before you run. I need it to wake up. I’m not used to running before the crack of dawn. Why so early I think to myself? How do they do it?
It’s quiet and dark on the road. I arrive at our 4:50 AM meet-up spot on time. We start our run together. The ladies are engaging and alert. I ask: “What’s the benefit for you to get up so early to run?” The answers came quick and easy. In addition to their acknowledgement of commitments to family and work, they respond:
- “Early in the day, we own the road.”
- “We get it done.”
- “It’s empowering.”
- “I feel good the rest of the day.”
Before you know it, the 3-mile run was completed. The ladies headed back to their cars, chatting together and making plans for their next scheduled run two days away. I get home before 6AM, and yes indeed, the day is before me. It feels good.
The mental strategies that these women embraced served to support them through weeks and months of training and distance runs in preparation for a half-marathon event. These strategies are as follow:
- Know Your WHY.
- Be ACCOUNTABLE.
- Stay COMMITTED to finish what you started.
- Be INTENTIONAL about crossing the finish line.
- Stay TENACIOUS in your training efforts.
- PERSEVERE to the end.
The ladies of the early morning running group reflected all of these strategies and it made my heart smile. Yes, I think to myself, the end DOES justify the means!
One of the shortfalls for making changes in our life is that they often don’t seem to last. Diets almost always fail; our efforts towards being more active falls by the wayside; and the goals we were once excited to make are forgotten or ignored. Life seems to get in the way, and old patterns die hard. We feel frustrated and sometimes give up, telling ourselves, “It’s too hard,” or “I can’t do it.”
What it boils down to is consistency. Either we stay the course, or we don’t. Sure, we may weaken along the way, but we don’t have to let that be the end of our journey. The Bible speaks to this in Proverbs 24:16 (NLT): “The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.” The effort becomes not in our doing, but in our staying. It calls for perseverance.
This is a word that a women’s running team has embraced as they entered the third phase of a half-marathon training program. Having completed ten weeks of training, the excitement of the honeymoon period was long over. To stay the course, these women needed to draw on the non-running elements of their training. They had to draw on their previous commitment to train, and they had to persevere to complete their goals.
Likewise, they had to draw on their “whys” – the reasons they chose to push their bodies through sweltering heat, physical pain, and early morning long runs on weekends. Some have said they wanted to finish what they started. Others shared they wanted to set an example for their children. Several others reported their desire was to improve their health with weight loss and cardiovascular conditioning.
Fortunately for these women, their “whys” were established at the start of the training. Quitting midstream would mean changing the very truth about themselves.
Whatever the reasons behind the goals that we set, to achieve these goals, we must remain steadfast and consistent, firm in our resolve and commitment to persevere, despite the difficulty.
The outcome of perseverance brings much reward. Runners who endured have reported:
“I can NOT believe I ran for almost an hour today. Who is this new person?”
“I completed 4 miles, running the whole way without stopping…it was great! I am so happy!”
Reaching a goal requires commitment to stay the course. Achieving to the end requires perseverance. Achieving our goals brings not only the desired result, but so much more.
