3. Eat Together as a Family
I think every parent I know holds dinnertime as sacred, but it is not as easily said as done. Perhaps with everyone’s work schedules, soccer practice, and music lessons it is impossible to eat together every night, but if you can try your best to make family dinner a regular occurrence, you will be richly rewarded. This is the time to discuss your thoughts, feelings, and of course, how your meal turned out! It is perfectly okay to become your own food critics. Did your dish need more salt or garlic? What would you do differently next time? How many stars would you rate it? These discussions will fuel your next week’s grocery list!
4. Develop a Good Palate
Eating healthy foods does not mean sacrificing flavor. Food is life. On my first date with my husband, he asked me what my favorite food was. I told him strawberries and French Fries and he was horrified. He realized how ignorant I was in the ways of food and made it his mission to show me how amazing it is to explore the world through food. I now can out order him in a restaurant and I am attempting to pass along his teachings to my daughter.
Rule #1: You cannot claim to “dislike” a food until you have tried it three times, prepared three different ways. If not for this rule, I would have never realized the magnificence of escargot.
Rule #2: Do not be afraid of food. Try exotic foods. Be adventurous. We may eat with our eyes first, but sometimes foods that look unappetizing are the most delicious morsels you will ever have the pleasure of putting in your mouth.
Rule #3: Do not be afraid to get messy. Some of the best foods you eat with your hands and you do not have to be a toddler to enjoy it!
5. Get Up and Dance!
Maybe dancing is not for you, but staying active and exercising as a family is a great way to model a healthy lifestyle. I am a big fan of family walks. I like to load my daughter into her Radio Flyer red wagon while my husband wrangles our dog on her leash and stroll about the neighborhood. We have so much fun chatting with neighbors, discussing our day, and pointing out things of interest to our daughter that we do not even realize that we were just exercising.
Maybe your family loves watching football. At half time, take a ball outside and toss it around. Or maybe yoga is your thing. My daughter and I love “Mommy and Me Yoga”, which is a great workout and also immensely entertaining as babies climb all over their mommies, who are attempting to contort themselves into a yoga pose.
If you make staying active a part of your regular routine, it does not have to be placed upon your list of New Year’s resolutions because it is already a part of your lifestyle. If you make eating healthfully and regular exercise fun, it does not seem like such a chore and it comes with the added bonus of making family memories.
Brittany Ferrell, Psikoloji alan?nda lisans derecesine ve E?itim alan?nda yüksek lisans derecesine sahiptir. On iki y?l boyunca ilkokul ö?retmeni olarak çal??t? ve 2011 y?l?nda "Y?l?n Ö?retmeni" ödülüne lay?k görüldü. ?ubat 2014'te Brittany ve harika kocas? Jerome, mucizeleri Madeline Olivia'y? dünyaya kar??lad?lar ve o, ö?retmen olmak için verdi?i mücadeleyi anlatt?. "Rüyadan Hayale Gerçe?e: Anneli?e Yolculu?um" adl? yay?nlanm?? an? kitab?nda bir ebeveyn . Brittany , A Mama Tale adl? blogunda annelikle ilgili masals? hayalinin gerçe?e dönü?tü?ünü yaz?yor . Deneme Bonusu