I am a Mum, I have 2 awesome boys who are 7 and 9 years old, and a husband who is also very active. He is also doing the 90 day Keto challenge with me which both of our boys are very aware of.
It is one thing to set a good example for your kids by being healthy, exercising and eating good fuel. But kids are sponges, especially my 7-year-old, and what do you do when they start taking it on themselves?
We had a set of body weight scales which synced up to my phone. I could see when a ‘visitor’ had stood on the scales, and I know that both my boys did it every single day. I guess it mainly happened when they should have been brushing their teeth and they were trying to find any other way possible to entertain themselves in the bathroom. There was always someone in the mid 20kg range, someone closer to 30kg, and sometimes someone around 40kg when they both stood on it together and used the bath to balance themselves. We ended up moving the scales off the floor and out of easy reach, but it ended up getting wet and dying. The new scales don’t sync so I don’t know how often they weigh in.
Both boys have been dragged along to classes since they were born from when I owned a dance school, so they have no worries sitting through gym classes, especially if they have a digital babysitter with them. And during the school holidays when I had a double training day they could be there up to 3.5 hours over a couple of stretches.
The 7-year-old asked for a Fitbit watch for his birthday. He likes watches and gadgets, and someone he knows at school has one. He also talks about people saying he’s fat at school, which he absolutely is not. He’s the kind of kid you can see his 3-course breakfast digest and deflate in his belly because there is no fat. Both the boys talk about 6 packs and abs a lot.
Recently I had a discussion with the 7-year-old because he weighed less that morning than he did the other day. We talked about when you’re a kid your body weight is meant to go up as you grow, despite the fact, there is a lot of discussion in our house around Mum and Dad trying to drop body fat.
We also talked about how scales aren’t the only way to measure yourself and that they aren’t very reliable. This was a chat in the late afternoon, I said I bet he’d weigh more than he did that morning because weight goes up and down all the time. This, of course, prompted a trip to the scales. The 9-year-old hopped on, then came out, the 7-year-old was having his turn. He was taking ages so went to investigate. He was standing butt naked on the scales to know exactly what he weighed. The upside to the story was, that he weighed the same as the other day again, the downside was I was left disturbed and concerned.
I did use his concern about sugar and fats to my advantage the other day. He loves to make himself jam sandwiches with crazy amounts of jam and butter. I scraped about 2 tablespoons of jam off leaving another 2 on the bread, to which he had a huge meltdown, “This is why I don’t like the sandwiches you make me.” (insert wailing 7-year-old voice).
We looked at the label and calculated there were about 24 grams of sugar in 4 tablespoons of jam. He then got a bottle of salt out to weigh it, so I stepped in and we actually measured out 24g of white sugar and he was shocked. I didn’t mention that was more than my daily intake of carbs either.
Both boys have talked about starting Crossfit, there are kids classes available in our Box, but I really don’t want them starting yet. When they’ve got their black belts in Karate, is the current but not very realistic plan. I don’t want my kids training in a gym. I’m still working out how to deal with the food and weight issue. I know the coaches will make it fun and like a game at this age, but I just want them to stay well away, except when I drag them in to train myself of course. Bad Mum? Or just like any Mum, confused about what kids throw at you, and wondering where the manual is.
