Do As I Say [ ? ] As I Do

We've all heard the saying from our own parents, and if you're a parent yourself, you've undoubtedly said it as well: Do as I say, NOT as I do!

But while I've said it before (in fact, just last night when Frank said "Jesus Christ!" in frustration over a broken toy), it's not fair. If we want our children to behave in a certain way, we need to behave that way as well. Though it often doesn't feel like they're listening, deep down we know our kids watch how we act, speak and treat the world around us incredibly closely. And they naturally emulate us.

If we expect something out of them, we better be showing them the way:

Do as I say, AND as I do!

And vs not: a small but incredibly significant and meaningful difference. And as it relates to health, we would do our children a real service to formally and permanently revise this well-known phrase.

Why?

Well, according to the AHA, roughly one in three American kids and teens is overweight or obese, nearly triple the rate in 1963. Among children today, obesity is causing a broad range of health problems that previously weren’t seen until adulthood. These include high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and elevated blood cholesterol levels. The saddest part of these statistics, and why we need to be more serious about how we behave in front of our kids, is the role that we as parents are playing in them. According to the US Department of Health & Human Services, if you're overweight or obese, your child's chances of following the same fate are between 25 to 50 percent. And if the child's other parent is also overweight, the chances shoot up to 75 percent. We work so hard to give our kids the best possible chance for success, and yet many of us seem to be giving them the best possible chance for chronic illness.

If you need more to ponder, consider the psychological effects of childhood obesity: low self-esteem, negative body image and depression. To think this psychological suffering is caused mostly by preventable physical issues is all the more depressing. But here's the encouraging part! These physical issues and therefore their psychological brethren are also REVERSIBLE.

If we were forced every day to say to our kids "do as I say, and as I do," how might we change our behavior around food and exercise?