Victoria was a still-birth at 41 weeks gestation. I cannot imagine what my life would have been had she not been promptly resuscitated. She is clever, compassionate, cheerful, and reserved too. She has a bright future ahead of her. The teenage years are approaching faster than I can prepare for them. So, I advice her to pursue her dreams no matter what they may be. I advice her about not trusting well-meaning "uncles" in the community. I tell her that women are strong and she need not fake being dumb just to fit in. I make her a healthy meal whenever I can but she has never been that kid that gravitates towards the "healthy" stuff.
She likes candy treats, french fries, glistening processed foods just to mention a few. Sadly, some of those treats are provided by me but the school and afterschool programs guarantee the rest. For fear of hurting her feelings, I do not tell her why she must reduce her unhealthy food consumption. She is naturally tall and strong, she takes after her father's side. She is also big boned and even though she nibbles at her food, she still puts on a significant amount of weight compared to the rest of her peers. When Easter or Halloween or Christmas or birthday parties roll by, I let her be a kid and indulge. I also let her indulge during the week and on weekends too. Juice boxes, colorful breakfast cereal, milk shakes, ice-cream and sprinkles, the icing on cupcake. What harm could those do? She is just a child, I say...
But in the future, in the very near future, Victoria will have to deal with the all too familiar body image issues, the health conditions that are kept secret, the depression that arises from pretending to be happy with her unhealthy weight. Is she equipped to not tip the scales when life throws her curve balls? Obviously not.
I had to resolve to teach my children NOW the value of healthy eating. The prevalence of obesity in our children in these United States of America is higher than ever before. This is the first generation whose parents will outlive them. WOW. We cannot stand by and let fate decide for us.
Teach your children now to treat their body with respect. That is their most important tool. Without a healthy body, none of their dreams can be fulfilled. Teach them to fuel their body machines with good grade fuel, not the kind tainted with impurities and slug. We don't do harm to our cars by buying fuel made of low quality, unregulated, mystery materials. Our body is more important that cars, isn't' it?
Children cannot teach themselves to eat right from the onset, they need to be shown. Just like we teach them to walk, talk, ride a bike, make good choices, we must also teach them to make good body fuel and body maintenance choices.
What are you doing with your children?
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