No, not really – it’s just that’s the name of a reality television show on the Learning Channel. The show, while still falling into the shuddering category of reality television does offer a unique challenge in perspective as well as nutritional advice for families. Primarily, the show confronts the poor eating and health habits of families where the average family is giving their children about 40 teaspoons of sugar a day when they should only be getting 10.
Shudder
Imagine actually consuming 40 teaspoons of sugar in a day. You probably can’t – at least not without a sickening feeling and neither can our kids. That’s one of the goals of Honey, We’re Killing the Kids – to alert parents and families to their poor dietary habits and to really look at what they are choosing daily. Our diets consist of donuts, cookies, ice cream, breakfast pastries, sugary cereals, soda – it may seem amazing that our children get anything healthy at all.
When you throw in the piles of fried foods and a dearth of exercise – it’s hardly surprising that our kids are facing weight issues decades earlier than most of their parents. I mean, seriously – when you were a kid – worrying about products being sugar-free or fat-free or healthy was hardly a primary consideration. In fact, we were more interested in going out to play and diving in the pool or racing around on our big wheels than we were in are we getting enough daily activity?
The More They Change
Frankly, that hasn’t changed for our kids – we’re just parents now and we’re more aware than ever of the problems confronting our children. How can we be otherwise? It’s in our face all the time and we’re reading articles daily on the obesity epidemic in the United States. So what can we do as parents to circumvent these weight loss issues and unhealthy eating habits in our children?
We start by learning a simple word for ourselves and our children – that magic word is no. It’s a very simple word, but it can be one of the hardest ones for us to use when we apply it. Frankly, you can’t say no to your child all the time about junk food and eat it yourself. Our kids see commercials and they want to try everything. It’s perfectly normal for them to want to experiment – but the best answer to those experiments is “No, it’s not healthy and Mommy isn’t going to be eating that and neither are you.”
Does that mean no to sweets all the time? Of course not, there’s nothing wrong with a sweet now and again, but daily doses of heavy chocolates and sugar? Absolutely not – that’s one of the worst things you can do. For yourself and for them – say no to sodas – say yes to water. Say no to junk food and yes to fruits and vegetables. Say no to deep fried foods and yes to grilled foods.
It’s Important to Remember
Our kids learn from our examples. Make your example a good one to learn from.