Monday, June 20, 2011

wee ways of life

One of my favourite things about motherhood is the fact that I get the privilege of helping Isla set herself up for a long life of health and success.

With all the decisions that I make for her, I find myself asking, ‘is this establishing a good habit or a bad habit? Is this setting my daughter up for success or failure’?


For example, we have started brushing Isla’s teeth. She only has 2 and I have read that it is ok to use a cloth on them for now, but I figure, why not get her used to having her teeth brushed? Thom or I spend some time brushing her teeth and then we give her a turn to do her own toothbrushing. And let me say, she loves her little toothbrush! I also try to have her in the bathroom with me while I am brushing my teeth in the morning.


This is just one example of all the things that I see as setting Isla up for success. As a child, I hated brushing my teeth, I would run the tap for the amount of time I was supposed to be brushing my teeth, but not really brush them, and I definitely paid for it later in cavities. Boo to the hoo. I am hoping to help Isla avoid some of these things.

I am going to do a little blog series called: ‘wee ways of life’ detailing the healthy routines and habits that we are starting our little Isla on. She may only be 7 months old, but I feel like if we can start early we can help her to learn to make her own healthy choices in the future.

While making healthy decisions for Isla is an obvious choice for me, I never expected that it would change my own bad habits. Because I do see myself as Isla’s number one influence, I think that I need to be on board with my own healthy lifestyle. I have not always been the healthiest. I love the McDonald’s drive thru (a fairly secret shame of mine!) and my transportation rule has pretty much been ‘why walk when you can drive’. I would start up the car for a 5 block trip. I can’t expect Isla to simply make different choices because I tell her she should, not only is that impractical to explain that to a baby, it can probably go without saying that the better lesson is 'do as I do', and not 'do as I say'.

With that said, we are changing things around here for the better. Some have been quick changes, and some have been a bit more gradual.

So, along with the 'wee ways of life' series, I will also be starting another series called: ‘healthy me!’ about how my life is changing as well.

I’d love any healthy parenting tips or advice that anyone out there has to contribute.

What kinds of habits you have started with your kids?

1 comment:

Ben said...

Hi Kate, I love the series that you're doing. We've started Isaac brushing his teeth (much later than you started Isla!) and he also seems to love it!