How to Raise Healthy Kids? Give Them Room to Choose!

Little Miss Sunshine - choose

When I was younger, there weren’t too many choices when it came to sports or activities. I thought watching channel 2 made me cool because it had American tv shows (like the X-Files!). Not to mention all the shows that would give me insight into the best English hits in the market. I would spend the majority of my time on the street. 

Too much & Too Little

Our childhoods and our activities were limited. There was only so much to do in a day. Then, technology and peer pressure came in and changed our lives. We don’t work with the same rules anymore. There is so much more to do if kids decide to stay in. There is a lot of entertainment and so many distractions, but there is not much achievement. 

The problem is right now, it seems like everyone evaluates us mothers on how much we keep our kids “occupied”. Society doesn’t measure our effort by – God forbid- our ability to raise mentally healthy children who take pride in their achievements. But, It rates us based on how busy our children are.  According to society, as long as you’re busy and tired as a mother, and as long as your children’s schedules are full of back-to-back activities, then you’re doing a great job.

Stereotypes & Making Choices

I hate stereotyping. I keep wondering,  whatever happened to letting our children do things that don’t consume 100% of their energy? What happened to letting them have space and time to be creative and different? Why do we all have to spend our time the same way or else we will be judged for giving our children lesser childhoods because we’re not taking them to the places everyone is going to? It doesn’t mean that anyone is doing better or worse, it just means that some choose to do things differently and that’s okay! 

Some of us grown-ups often don’t do things in the same way;  We should also give the kids room to choose what they want to do with their time. When you give your children the freedom to choose what they want, whether it’s sports, literature, technology, or anything else, you are also giving them the ability to make choices later on in their lives. So, let them be different, let them stand out! They don’t have to do what everyone else is doing. They just need to do what makes them happy, healthy, and successful.

Growing up, they will have to make choices that they won’t want to make. Practicing some freedom in their choices as children will build the solid foundation they will need when they will have to make tougher choices in the future. They would have the ability to make those choices because that freedom has always been a part of their lives. 

 

Regina Inani childhood & choice
Regina Inani

Regina Inani is a coach with a focus on career and lifestyle and an HR guru with many years of experience across multinationals and startups. She is addicted to reading and drinks coffee like there is no tomorrow. She’s also a content creator and a mentor.

No Comments Yet

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.