#68 - "My Kids Watch Everything I Do. Am I Setting a Good Example?"

But what do you think, coach?

Yeah.

I mean, I'm-- I've had this conversation more than a few times this week about how-

Mm

... adult...

Like, whatever.

[chuckles] Adulthood's a societal construct, right? Like, we're all just big kids.

[chuckles] Yeah.

We're all just big kids with credit cards, and instead of being able to fill our coping holes with connection from our parents, now we fill it with, uh, material items or objects or food or whatever it is.

So your kids are looking at how you manage stress, how you manage, uh, food intake, how you manage your body, how you manage, you know, all these things that happen in the day to day.

I know that there are things that my niece and nephews have picked up that my sister and her partner did not teach them because that's just how it is.

Yeah.

And yeah, they're gonna be in different environments.

You don't have the control in every situation or circumstance, and you have to set the example that you want to see come through with them and instill good morals and ethics and all those things.

It's, it's another part of raising your kid as well, and, like, to do the acknowledgement, yes, I'm not a parent, and I don't, you know, claim to be a, an expert on parenting or anything like that or child psychology like you mentioned earlier.

However, you know, I have worked with a lot of parents and families, and being an in-person trainer, I've seen a lot of family dynamics, going to people's houses and that kind of stuff as well, and seeing how people interact with each other.

Yeah, like, if you want, you know...

The, I grew up in, in the era as well of, like, do as I say, not as I do.

This is like, you know, previous generation parenting, and that didn't work out well because there's a lot of things I still did that my parents told me not to do because that's the best way to make sure a kid does something is tell them not to do something, right, like you mentioned.

So I think framing these things in a way or an approach rather that we tell our, the members that we work with, our clients, is, yeah, this isn't about restriction.

This isn't about suffering.

This is about improving quality of life and managing your inputs so it, it creates a specific output based on your efforts and being curious about the process and asking yourself, okay, if I am weighing my food in front of my kid, is that going to lend itself to them thinking, you know, why is mom or dad doing that? Then you explain to them, well, mom and dad are doing this because it's appropriate to get a certain amount of protein, so this way I don't snack on a bunch of things later because that's gonna then lead to me not sleeping well and explaining to them what it is you're trying to do in terms of the result that you're trying to get, and that involves them in the process too 'cause then we both know as well kids are, you know, [chuckles] painfully honest at times-

Mm-hmm

... 'cause if they're snacking later, they're gonna be like, "Hey, Mom, uh, I saw that you had a snack, and you said earlier that you weren't gonna snack, and now here you are snacking." And it's not to create any sort of, you know, guilt or shame around it-You can also tell them, "Yeah, you know, Mom or Dad is still feeling hungry, and we're gonna have this as a snack because it's a healthy snack," or a more nutritious snack rather, and explain to them why it is, and being in that place where you can educate them from the curiosity that they're expressing too.

Absolutely, coach.