Mother Knows Best

I’ve spent months talking to mom’s in our community about their obstacles, barriers and excuses that prevent them from taking action on healthy living practices; regular exercise, rest and mindful nutrition. This mom’s threw the book at me. But for every excuse they conjured up, there evolved a solution.

I didn’t say the solutions were going to be easy to accomplish, only that it was doable. Here lies the challenge. Most of the solutions required a change in habits, thinking and mental state. And for the record, it was the moms who came up with the solutions. I just asked the right questions.

Change is difficult for us all. Routine is easy, comfortable and familiar. But what if routine is not having you live the life that brings out the best in you so you may give your best to your family? To quote Dr. Phil “how’s it working for you so far?”

Just the thought of change is enough to escalate stress hormones. But if you really want to augment your healthy living plan you have to stop contemplating and start preparing. The preparation stage is an invitation to figure out what you want to change, gather knowledge and support, and implement your strategies and solutions.

These moms re-claimed their lives, time, energy and health first and foremost when they stopped over-scheduling their kids. Most importantly, their parenting skills soared along with their family relationships. Activities that have mom running from one end of town to the other dropping one child off only to burn rubber in the opposite direction to gather the other just dropped off, were eliminated or replaced by selections that have the flexibility to also accommodate mom’s lifestyle needs.

Realizing they did not have to be at every practice, they used that time for their own fitness. If the program commanded their presence they picked another one that allowed them the freedom to claim that time for themselves, or they engaged in fitness within the surroundings of their child’s event.

Weekend tournament nightmares were avoided by saying ‘no’. This meant opting for rec not select programs. Leave select for the latter years. Early morning practices before school! What were you thinking? Grade schooler’s and moms need sleep. Agreements were made for weekend only early am practices along with night before structure of no activities, early bedtime and only one early week day practice per week.

Dry land training for 8 year olds was ditched for skateboard parks, a game of grounders, family swims and bowling! That’s called play. More fun and less expensive!

Programs that push dinner to 7pm and bedtime seldom before 9 were punted to show respect to family values, teachers who school your children and to parents who need quality time to manage a house, their relationship and of course their personal wellness.

When children rested, so did mom. They surrendered to a less than perfect house.

Some used the money saved from less programming toward occasional big job housekeeping!

These mom’s now empower their children to participate in yard work and household chores right along with them, so that they can all get out the door for a family swim, bike or trip to the park.

These moms are a leading example in showing their children that mom’s wellness is not more important but as important as theirs! Their children will grow into adults who share these same values breeding healthy families and communities.

Let this be your mother’s day gift this year. Get out the stroller, bikes, skates, toboggans, backpacks and do it early in your child’s life. Even our little people quickly become creatures of habit and they will resist you over and over again until you positively show them how much more fun it will be to be with you than wii, xbox or Harry Potter (unless they are snuggled up with you and a hardcover copy).

When all else fails in getting your family on board with the change, tell them ‘mother knows best’