Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Kids...

This is completely off subject, but today as I was leaving a convenience store (with my coffee) I noticed what someone was purchasing. I really don't know why it caught my eye, but it was a big bag of chips, candy and some regular soda. I then looked at these 2 girls who must not have been more than 10 years old. They were overweight. I then looked at the adult with them...overweight. It hit me REALLY hard and I was so overcome with sadness. I couldn't stop thinking about it...I think about my own children, my own feelings about food and how what I say and don't say is observed by them.

We have so many responsibilities as moms AND the one of the most important is to equip our children with the tools to make good decisions. Not the decision over which package of M&M's has the peanuts in it...(a conversation Holden and I had the other day). Certainly children should not be deprived of the yummy things in life... they are to be enjoyed. In fact, there is nothing better than to see a child eat his first ice cream cone and witness the pure pleasure of it! It's when the treats in life are no longer treats, but they become staples of our diet.

A lot of how we look and our health is part of the genes we were given, but we also picked up a lot of good and bad habits from what we observed growing up.

I'm writing this because I care about the future of our children. Childhood obesity is an epidemic and the only way we change it is to start changing ourselves and our habits. It all starts with you! SCARY... I know.