Question for NF parents: Are you able to make fitness a family affair?

[smurray]

I can see that the NF community is mainly folks closer to the younger side of the adult spectrum and I give everyone a big virtual high five for taking charge of their health. I also know there has to be some folks out the who have little clones and want them to have a long and healthy life. I have two girls (4 and6) and they challenge me everyday. My wife and I are average Gen X-ers and grew up on McD's, boxes of mac and cheese, and pizza buffets. We try our best to limit the bad stuff but make sure we get in plenty of the good stuff. We have be fortunate that our kids will try anything and they love to make healthy choices. Their favorite fast food joint is Subway. I just hope we can continue on this path as they continue to grow. What challenges and successes have you had that have included your kids? Are your kids an inspiration in you achieving your goals?

[BarefootDawsy]

I'm always pleased to see otehr parents on the boards...as you said, the majority of folks on here are the young single type (wish this had been around when I was one of those!). We're the same, trying to feed the kids (2 and 9 months) good quality whole foods, and a balanced diet. So far so good, even if we do have the (very) occasional trip to Maccas. Having kids has been the prime motivator for me getting in shape. I honestly don't know where I'd find the energy if I wasn't fit!

[Shortkaik]

I don't have kids of my own, but recently I've come into a situation where I am spending basically half my time living with two young children (7 and 9). I'm finding that I don't quite agree with a lot of the food decisions that are being made for them, but I don't really have a lot of say in the matter. But I'm learning that when I've got kids of my own, they're going to grow up on healthy foods.

My biggest concern is that, like you, I was raised on a lot of junk processed food. Frozen chicken nuggets, hamburger helper and mac & cheese. And where did it get me? To be a 15-year-old girl nearing on 200 lbs and I'm still fighting to correct my weight issues, nearly 10 years later. I fear for my own children and want to do everything in my power to avoid that fate! Good to hear it is possible to get kids to eat healthy.

[Tom Kenobi]

I'm 32 and have 3 little girls. The big thing for me right now since they are little like yours (9,6,3) is that they KNOW and see that I am working out. I try to have my workout done, or the majority of it done before they wake up, but they are seeing me sweaty, they see me "greasing the groove" in the afternoon & evening on my dips, chins & pulls, they see me choosing purposefully to eat good and eat well & then to fix them good stuff too. I personally think that type of living example will help as they become older and more apt to workout, etc. Hope that helps. Keep at it man

[Knurdle]

I have a daughter who is turning 2 next month and we've been pretty strict with her diet.

It has also changed our diet for the better, using almost no salt, more fish, etc.

What kills me is when we go to birthday parties and other parents ask. You're not giving her cake/candy/sweets.

Like she's missing out on some huge thing. If she hasn't had it, she isn't missing out on it.

I'm sure she'll have more than enough opportunities in her life to have all that stuff, why introduce it to her at such a young age. It's not like she's begging for it and we say no. We'll give her a little taste if she asks for it and that's enough for her.

We're also pretty lucky in that she loves to eat everything and she seems to really like the healthy stuff. fish, broccoli.

We're also trying to be more active as a family, parks, hikes, etc. I spend enough time in front of the computer and I know that has rubbed off on her.

Maybe there needs to be a parents group on here.

[smurray]

Maybe there needs to be a parents group on here.

I like that idea Knurdle! I know I wouldn't mind sharing tips and tricks in dealing with trying to walk the line in guiding our children down the healthy path while still being a part of this world we live in. In dealing with diet, "moderation" is a key word for our family. Yea, sweet treats are good, but you cannot have them every day. We made this year's family vacation a trip to visit a friend in another state while a local festival was taking place. We had all of us sign up for the festival 5K and the kids did the 1 mile fun run. They didn't make it through the whole race, we had the stroller available for the 3 yr old, but they did have a great time participating in the run.

[Elastigirl]

My son is now in college, so I didn't do paleo when he was growing up. We did try to eat/live healthy. One thing we did to stay active was go on hikes. My friend takes her kids out geocaching. If you haven't done geocaching, it is a combination of hiking and loking for treasure(usually small trinkets) Her kids love it. It's a great way to go enjoy the outddoors and get exercise.

[zenmom]

Mine is not so little, I have one 13 year old daughter. We have always tried to have healthier food choices around and as a little kid she was always pretty good at following her instincts of what was healthy. Unfortunately we are now finding that many of the choices we thought were healthy turns out not to be. As I read and learn I share with my family. I have been transitioning our family to paleo and they are mostly good with it all. They have been having a hard time grasping the “no wheat” parts because of pizza. She is very active and has always been involved with sports and dance. We started cycling as a family last year and she likes to walk and run with me. She also lifts weights, swims and recently passed her 1st brown belt test in karate. Her activity level is part of why my husband and I decided to get fit. We want to be good examples, motivate her to follow her goals and we want to participate in activities with her. She is also our biggest cheerleader.

Another motivating factor was that my husband had a mild heart attack last summer. Nothing like a medical scare to motivate good health practices. He wants to be healthy so he can be here to watch her grow up.

A parent area would be cool.

[ebm1224]

i'm not a parent or anything but i think this is an interesting topic. one issue that hasn't been brought up is the concept of the family dinner which i've heard so many times has tons of benefits (physical, mental, emotional, social). growing up, we ate dinner together as a family and i think that's something that helped me develop some good habits. i still have bad habits i'm trying to break but i love veggies and fruits and my family and i are very close. i attribute at least some of this to the family dinner concept that helped us all bond, talk about the day, and be given a friendly environment to try new and healthy foods. today, with computers, video games, tv, etc (not to mention all the activities kids and adults participate in), it can be hard to set aside that "quality time" and dinner is a great opportunity. when i have a family that is definitely something i want to do.

[macnip78]

Have two kids here. A son who is almost 4 and a 6 month old daughter. We started having them eat healthy right out of the box. My son loves vegetables, fruit and fish. Starting him early has done wonders for his eating habits. He has an older niece and nephew and he adores both. They eat junk constantly. Starting him eating healthy early (and teaching him what healthy means) has allowed us to stay on top of his eating habits even with his outside influences. He still eats some processed stuff every oncer in a while, but it is definitely few and far between. He has actually gotten to the point that he will point out 'unhealthy' food. We will be walking down the cereal aisle at the grocery store and he will just blurt out, 'unhealthy cereal, unhealthy cereal...' as well pass boxes of junk in the aisles. There's nothing quite like the reaction of a stunned adult picking up a box of Cocoa Puffs being called out by a 3 year old.

My wife makes all of our baby food for our daughter. It is actually incredibly easy (thank you Magic Bullet), cheap and guarantees that our daughter is getting nothing but the best.

As far as fitness, I play with my son. We run around, wrestle and interact constantly. I know he looks up to me and I set the example for him.

[Knurdle]

I love the idea of a 4 year old calling out 'unhealthy cereal'! That's awesome!

Have two kids here. A son who is almost 4 and a 6 month old daughter. We started having them eat healthy right out of the box. My son loves vegetables, fruit and fish. Starting him early has done wonders for his eating habits. He has an older niece and nephew and he adores both. They eat junk constantly. Starting him eating healthy early (and teaching him what healthy means) has allowed us to stay on top of his eating habits even with his outside influences. He still eats some processed stuff every oncer in a while, but it is definitely few and far between. He has actually gotten to the point that he will point out 'unhealthy' food. We will be walking down the cereal aisle at the grocery store and he will just blurt out, 'unhealthy cereal, unhealthy cereal...' as well pass boxes of junk in the aisles. There's nothing quite like the reaction of a stunned adult picking up a box of Cocoa Puffs being called out by a 3 year old.

My wife makes all of our baby food for our daughter. It is actually incredibly easy (thank you Magic Bullet), cheap and guarantees that our daughter is getting nothing but the best.

As far as fitness, I play with my son. We run around, wrestle and interact constantly. I know he looks up to me and I set the example for him.

[smurray]

My wife makes all of our baby food for our daughter. It is actually incredibly easy (thank you Magic Bullet), cheap and guarantees that our daughter is getting nothing but the best.

We did the same thing with our little ones. I think that really helped them to appreciate vegetables. They will pick veggies over french fries every time. My wife also had a mini muffin pan and she would freeze smaller servings using the pan. She could put two frozen servings in a baby food jar and we could take it anywhere. When it was time to eat, the food kept itself cold on the journey, warm it up the rest of the way and it was ready to eat. If you have ever tried store bought baby food, you can see why many kids do not make the transition to real un-processed food very well.

[macnip78]

We did the same thing with our little ones. I think that really helped them to appreciate vegetables. They will pick veggies over french fries every time. My wife also had a mini muffin pan and she would freeze smaller servings using the pan. She could put two frozen servings in a baby food jar and we could take it anywhere. When it was time to eat, the food kept itself cold on the journey, warm it up the rest of the way and it was ready to eat. If you have ever tried store bought baby food, you can see why many kids do not make the transition to real un-processed food very well.

Yeah, making our own baby food has done wonders, definitely. We freeze all of our food as well, which comes in very handy as you mentioned.

As for fitness, I can't figure out how I am going to appraoch this yet. For right now, I just make sure I play with my son, actively. He loves board games and video games, but I make sure we do some active things as well. He heard a commercial on the radio during a football game for the NFL's Play60 campaign and asked me what it was about. It was saddening to me that I had to explain to him that they need commercials now to tell kids that they should be active for at least 60 minutes a day. I don't ever want my children to have to rely on someone else explaining the importance of fitness to them

[zenmom]

Have any of you seen the NEOS playgrounds? NEOS is basically a giant electronic game but its set up for families to play and get exercise. You actually work up a sweat playing, at least I did. The creators said they wanted to find a way to get families outside playing together. You can see information and video about it here.

http://www.playneos.com/

Speaking of playgrounds, they are a great way to teach kids to get exercise. Running, climbing, monkey bars are all good ways to incorporate exercise into a young child’s day.

[KillerGriller]

Another parent of two here. The kids always know when I'm going for a run or a swim, or even occasionally do weights with me. We also have them enrolled in sports and help coach as well, so it's something you get to do together not just another thing we're "forcing" them to do.

[erinec11]

I have a 5 year old boy. I think I've done a horrible job of instilling good eating habits. It also seems like he's extremely picky. I don't have consistent good eating habits myself, so that doesn't help. I'm trying to figure out how to kind of "wean" him off the bad stuff. I'm not quite sure how to go about it. The good thing is he does see that I make an effort to exercise (we go to the gym at least twice a week, usually more like 3-4). I'm glad to see there are other parents on here. I had been wondering this same thing.

[The Purple Diane]

I have a 5 year old boy. ... I'm trying to figure out how to kind of "wean" him off the bad stuff. I'm not quite sure how to go about it. ....

Surround him by as much of the good stuff as possible?

Always focus on what you can have, not what you can't; that seems to go double for kids. Good luck!

[Katalaya]

I have a 3 year old son. I used to use 3# weights in my workouts and now when I'm doing my strength training he grabs those off the shelf and tries to imitate me. LOL. As far as food goes, I don't really have a problem with getting him to eat healthy. I do have a problem with getting him to eat enough protein because he won't eat meat. I have tried every bit of meat/fish that I can get my hands on and he simply does not eat it. He will try it once and if he doesn't like it, he will not touch it anymore. If it is mixed in with food, he will separate it out before eating. Since that is the case, I usually have lots of peanut butter and other sources of protein around for him to eat. I think that because I've started doing this while he's so young [keep in mind, I am a single parent, nobody to show him otherwise] he'll grow up with a healthier lifestyle. Hopefully when he is old enough to be making the choices on his own, he will stick with it.

[smurray]

Have any of you seen the NEOS playgrounds? NEOS is basically a giant electronic game but its set up for families to play and get exercise. You actually work up a sweat playing, at least I did. The creators said they wanted to find a way to get families outside playing together. You can see information and video about it here.

http://www.playneos.com/

Speaking of playgrounds, they are a great way to teach kids to get exercise. Running, climbing, monkey bars are all good ways to incorporate exercise into a young child’s day.

That playneos set looks like a giant "Simon" game. I wonder if you could rent those things. My six year old has worn out the monkey bars since starting Kindergarten this year. By the middle of the second week she had developed blisters and had to visit the school nurse to get bandaged. She just now came in and told me she can do the monkey bars backwards! If that is the case, I will post a video! That kid just likes to show off.

[zenmom]

The NEOS at our park has 15 games to choose, one of them is Simon. We usually play whack the light, like whack a mole only with lights. Always fun!

[SarahAM]

I would love if we start a new parent section! I have a 2 month old boy and the thought of him eating unhealthy terrifies me. I would love to her some advice on making your own baby food (It sounds like it's probably cheaper than buying the jars...) or even fun workouts using the baby as a weight

And that NEOS looks freaking awesome!! I want one!! Lol

[BarefootDawsy]

I would love if we start a new parent section! I have a 2 month old boy and the thought of him eating unhealthy terrifies me. I would love to her some advice on making your own baby food (It sounds like it's probably cheaper than buying the jars...) or even fun workouts using the baby as a weight

Yep it's overdue, we definitely need a parents' room!

I often use the kids as weights - great workout and they have a ball. I highly recommend getting a bassinette or rocker with a handle as they make great dumbells, and the resistance increases as they get older

As for baby food the trick is to not be intimidated - veggies at first, just boil and/or steam them up and blend them into a soup. As they get older, just chuck in some grilled chicken or cooked ground beef and you're all good.

My go-to is to boil a potato, sweet potato, pumpkin and a half bag of mixed frozen vegetables in a litre or so of chicken stock for 15 mins. Strain the liquid into a bowl and put the solids into a food processor. Blend them up and add the liquid back bit-by-bit until the desired texture is reached - voila. Mix and match veggies, meats, leftovers, whatever. Freeze half and it'll last all week!

[smurray]

I would love if we start a new parent section! I have a 2 month old boy and the thought of him eating unhealthy terrifies me. I would love to her some advice on making your own baby food (It sounds like it's probably cheaper than buying the jars...) or even fun workouts using the baby as a weight

When it came to baby food, my wife made the promise to our children that if she wouldn't eat it, she wouldn't feed it to them. That really comes to light when you go to a baby shower and one of the games is to sample store bought baby food and you see the disgusting looks on the taste testers' faces. Try to feed your children the same dishes you are eating. If you have english peas for dinner, use a baby food mill and mash it right there at the table. When our children started transitioning to solid food it was very smooth since it was the same stuff they had always been eating. I would suggest to steam veggies, and avoid adding anything to the dish. I started to gain a taste for just the vegetables without salt and butter during this time. My wife breast fed, so we really didn't add meat to their diet until they were old enough to handle small bits of food.

I will also state that we didn't completely cut out store bought baby food. We still had snacks and other quick dissolving treats during the transition to solid foods, but my wife and I taste tested and checked out the nutritional facts first.

[SarahAM]

When it came to baby food, my wife made the promise to our children that if she wouldn't eat it, she wouldn't feed it to them...... We still had snacks and other quick dissolving treats during the transition to solid foods, but my wife and I taste tested and checked out the nutritional facts first.

Thanks for the advice guys I have the same rule.. or at least I will lol and those yogurt melt things are pretty good, I had to try one after seeing the girl I babysit for freak out over them lol

[spezzy]

Yep it's overdue, we definitely need a parents' room!

UGH FINE.

http://nerdfitness.com/community/forumdisplay.php?120-General-Discussion

Let me know what y'all want the sections to be and I'll make them! Just put up a general discussion one now because I dont have kids and have NO IDEA what you want them to be :)