As I mentioned before, after my nutrition appointment, I decided that it would be a good idea to teach the kids about nutrition as well. Why teach them bad habits now when they could learn to eat better starting at a younger age? I came to realize that I didn't even remember what was the number of recommended servings of each food group for someone healthy. I had been so "low carb" that I didn't have a good idea of what was healthy for a kid who didn't need to lose weight but instead needed to eat more well-rounded. I went to mycleanplate.gov and found some printables and meal suggestions, etc. But, in teaching them about it, I followed the advice of one of the lady's from the gym who said that she tells her kids to see what they've eaten and what they need to eat yet in the day before they snack, etc. How do you include your kids in making good choices for food when this is a struggle for you? I keep praying for God to give me wisdom in parenting and the discipline to carry it through.
One idea I had seen was a magnet where kids can move across things they've eaten and see what's left. But, when doing some research, it looked like they ran around $30 on ebay plus shipping. I wasn't sure I was ready to make that kind of investment per kid when we're just learning some of these things. So, I went on a shopping trip with Mamaw (and Grace was along that day) and found these place mats at AC Moore by Melissa & Doug. They also had crayons that you can color on the place mats and wipe clean. Mamaw purchased them for us (thanks so much!) and I decided it was a good start. We talked about the main food groups and that it's important to try and eat some from each group. While the place mats are supposed to help kids visualize how to set the table, the plate was great for putting on their food choices. We divided the plate into categories with the crayons and while we ate that day, the boys would put a mark or circle by the food group it was in. I discovered that Caleb isn't great about eating his vegetables. He loves his fruit and grains, though! Joshua is much more well-rounded, depending on the options we offer.
They enjoyed coloring their mats, and I love that I can wipe them clean for the next day. It will require discipline for us to keep going with this "craft" (as the boys call it) but I'm hoping that we can make it part of our daily routine to show where we're lacking foods and what are some healthy options when we're hungry, especially at snack time.
If you think of it, please pray for us! That we will be a healthy family and treat our bodies as God's temple.
That same afternoon, we did another craft. I realized that with it being summer, we haven't spent a lot of time doing crafts between playing outside and going to the gym. But, I know the boys enjoy the time that we do spend on these little activities. So, we put together our flowers from the cutouts we had from awhile back.
It had been a fun and hopefully semi-educational morning!
That evening we went to our friends' house the Grube's. We ordered pizza and took drinks, and Lisa made an extra yummy chocolate covered rice krispie treat dessert. She even sent extras along home with us, but luckily Shawn ate them all before I had a chance to dig in for more (although I didn't feel like it was "lucky" at the time!). We always have a great time with our friends. The boys loved playing in the sand box and hanging out with their friend Isabella. Ryan ate lots of goldfish that night, as I recall. Fun times with fun friends! :) :) :)
No comments:
Post a Comment