Mom, Your Habits Effect You & Your Children: Make Time For Healthy Habits!

I value a healthy lifestyle, and I want to model a healthy lifestyle for my family. There are so many things in my life that I cannot control, but I can control my fitness level.

~ Andrea Cabanas, Founder of Fit Moms and Fit Moms-to-Be

At an alarming rate, the women in the United States are growing, and I’m not talking about population numbers. Over 40% of US women were reported as being obese by an article in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Ladies, no excuses, it is high time we took care of ourselves, not only for our own sake but for our children’s sake. We must make our own health a priority which means making time to partake in exercise and other healthy habits because our children are adopting our habits.

No Sick Days For Mom: She Takes Care Of Everyone & Everything

Think about all that you do in a day. You have children, a husband, a career, and a household to run, the PTA, your kids’ sports events, and more. Life has you so busy that you barely do anything for yourself. The stress builds up. Not only are you stressed, but you are probably eating more fast food to accommodate the hectic schedule because cooking is time consuming. Stress coupled with poor eating habits leads to illness.

You can’t take care of everyone in your household if you are not well. When you let your health deteriorate because you don’t exercise and eat well, you are less productive and exhausted all the time. Plus, allowing yourself to become overweight or obese makes you more prone to chronic illnesses.

Obesity is linked to 20 common chronic illnesses including these common conditions:

• Type 2 Diabetes
• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Cancer
• Arthritis

The Center for Disease Control (2016) states that “As of 2012, about half of all adults—117 million people—had one or more chronic health conditions. One of four adults had two or more chronic health conditions.”

You truly don’t have time to be sick, much less chronically ill.

Here’s the good news….These conditions are preventable!

You must make cuts to the hectic schedule to accommodate for your own health. Make time for the gym and healthy cooking at home. By working healthy habits into your life, you inadvertently create them for your children.

READ Easy Steps to Make your Eating Habits Healthier

Monkey See Monkey Do: Your Children Are Watching You

You already know that your children are watching everything you do from how you dress to what you eat. They emulate you. What habits are they seeing?

• Do they see you making fitness a priority?
• Do they see you eating healthy foods?

If not, it’s time to make a change for you and your family. As a society we must change the “norm” in our households. Bad habits are extremely difficult to break especially when they are life-long bad habits that we learn from our parents.

Stop buying every type of junk food for your household.

Make outside time mandatory.

Sign up for a family fun run.

Get out from behind the electronics.

MOVE!!   

When you take time for fitness, your children learn. When you take time to cook healthy meals, your children learn. Think about what you want to teach them and what kind of life you want them to have. The lifestyle you lead in front of your children will be a reflection of theirs to come.

Modeling healthy choices for my son teaches him to make healthy choices when I am not around to help him make the right choice. For example, my son explains the importance of protein and vegetables to his friends and teachers at daycare, and he is only three years old!  I hope that my son continues to follow the example I am setting for him and lead others in the right direction to a fit and healthy lifestyle.

~Cabanas

READ Getting Fit After Having A Baby: A Moms' Guide To Working Out At Home

Make Working Out Your “Me” Time While Giving The Kids Fun Time

“Recent research has shown that women today are less happy than they have been over the past 40 years. There are many theories about why, but lack of free time can be a major reason,” says Gina Shaw, WebMD contributor.

Make gym time your “me” time, or free time and get happy again!

The gym can become an oasis, an escape for many women. You drop the kids off in the fitness center daycare, which they usually love, and get two hours to do something positive for your health. It’s a time to put on your headphones and focus on nothing but you. It’s your “me” time, and it refreshes you mentally and physically.

My children beg to go to “the big gym” with me. They have other children to interact with, and my gym has an amazingly fun facility for them to explore and play in. On many occasions, they are driving me bonkers in the house on Saturday because we’ve all been cooped up too long. A gym trip gets them out of the house, gets me out of the house, and wears us all out. We are calm and cool when we get back home.

It’s a sanity saver!

Mom, Making Health Fit Into Your Schedule

Schedule With Your Husband/S.O.

My husband wants me to stay fit. He told me before we got married that he never wanted me to “give up.” My reply was that I would need the time to stay fit. To this day we actually discuss and schedule our workouts around our lives and our children’s activities.

Usually he works out in the morning, and I drop the kids off at school. I work out after work, and he picks them up from school. One of us is always with our boys. This also helps take away any feelings of guilt for not being with the kids because one of us always is. They need time with Dad anyway.

Work Out With Your Children

Working out does not mean you have to pump iron, even though that is my preference. It can be riding bikes or taking a walk to the park with your children and then playing for 30 minutes there. Go ahead…act like your children. That’s exercise.

The thing your children truly want is your time. When you have to put work down to spend quality time with them, make it count. Make the quality time cover many important facets of life. Working out with them gives them a unique interaction with you that they want and sets the stage for the way they interact with their children in the future. It shows them that working out is valued in your home and so is health.

Some evenings my children and I play monster hide (a game named by my children). I run away from them and hide somewhere in the house. They seek me out. When they find me I shout and chase them down acting like a monster. I tickle them when I catch them and then run off to hide again.

READ Parenting Advice: How to Spend Quality Time With your Kids

I’m here to testify that I really get some crazy interval cardio during this time. I get winded. They waste no time finding me. My 4 and 6-year-old claim that it’s what I do best in life. Plus, we are exercising and bonding.

Link Up With A Mom’s Fitness Group

Look around in your neighborhood for mom fitness groups. There is one in my area called Fit Moms and Fit Moms-to-Be which was founded by one of my awesome, fit friends, Andrea Cabanas.

When speaking about the group, Cabanas said,

“We support each other by motivating each other to work out and eat healthy. Moms share workout tips and videos, healthy recipes, and fitness goals.  We also have step challenges and weight loss challenges.”

All events they host are mom and baby/kid friendly. The goal is to create a great environment for fitness for mothers, which they do! I have participated in a 5K that the group hosted. It was great to see moms pushing strollers and little kids participating with their moms. Fit Moms has built a great support system for fitness enthusiast moms.

READ Activities for Kids that do not Include Computers, Computer Games, or TV

Cabanas says,

“Having a baby changes everything, especially how we prioritize our time, including time spent working out and time spent preparing healthy meals.  It is great to have a support system of moms who value health and fitness.  A local fitness group like "Fit Moms & Mom-to-Be" gives new and experienced mothers the opportunity to find workout and runner partners as well as make friends with mothers who also value health and fitness.”

Find Fit Moms and Fit Moms-to-Be on Facebook or on Instagram @fitmomsmomstobe to connect with this group.

Conclusion

The habits you have now will not only help you to live a long, healthy life, they will also help your children to have the same. Part of setting your children up for success is teaching them basic self care and wellness. You are the single greatest influence on their habits, so set the stage for success for yourself and for them!