One of my favorite parts of this blogging gig is the conversations that develop in the comments and email. I know that some people aren?t comfortable asking questions unless they?re invited so I gave you the opportunity to ask me anything.
This week I?m going to try to answer them. I figured it was a good way to use my last week of vacation since I?m not really feeling up to following my regular editorial calendar.
Sharon asks:
As?the?mom of two girls, how do you present being healthy and taking care of yourself without?the?fear of being too concerned with it? I know that I fret all?the?time that if I talk too much about food or exercise that I?m dooming my girls to a life of eating disorders but at?the?same time want them to be healthy and fit. ?Any words of wisdom?
Also, and I think your Olay post will do this, but what do you use to take care of your skin?
This is a really important topic, and one that I think a lot of moms with girls struggle with.?As you know, I tend to be more concerned than most about the quality of food we put into our bodies, but I don?t want my kids to develop a obsession about it either. I also don?t want to give them an elitist complex. There is nothing I detest more than people who act like they?re better than everyone else because of their choices.
But I do want them to understand how much our food choices affect our health and well being. I often tell them how I made myself sick by eating poorly for so many years. They still remember me being sick ? especially the older ones. I wish I thought it made n impact, but I?m not sure it does.
Kids?think?they?re invincible, is really the long and the short of it. Everyone does, I think, until they have an experience that proves otherwise. So I try to tell my kids about how I ate and how it affected me, but ultimately they?ll have to figure it out themselves.
My kids do sometimes choose to eat something because they know it is nutritious, but they are all too eager to take any opportunity to eat crap when it?s available. I do my best to keep our home free of too much junk, but I know that they will make their own choices when they?re not under my thumb. I suppose they?ll have to learn the hard way, the same as I did.
My philosophy on such matters is to keep the lines of communication open, to be honest without using scare tactics, but then to give them space to let them make their own choices.
As far as fitness goes, one reason I work out is to set a good example for my kids ? that and it keeps me off depression meds!! LOL. I want them to see that I make fitness a priority. I can tell my 12-year-old son is really proud of me ? keep in mind, I?m not that mom who throws a football or gets in the pool and horses around. So for them to see me getting out there and running and lifting weights really makes an impact.
I?d love to say that I never make off-hand remarks about me feeling fat or whatever, but those things do fly out of my mouth at times. In case you haven?t noticed, I tend to have a bit of flair for the melodrama.
Kids are funny, though. If I do say something like that, invariably someone will pipe up and say, ?Mom. You aren?t fat!!? in the patronizing tone of one who has heard something ridiculous and is totally over it.
So I talk openly with them. I explain that I know I?m not fat, but I feel fat at the moment because I ate crap food and ?I feel bloated and my pants are tight, and I really don?t like feeling this way.?I try to turn my unfortunate remark into a conversation about how what we eat affects how we feel, and I just hope that the message will sink in.
I tend to switch up my skincare?regimen?a lot because I like to try new products, but I have been using Therapon?s Skin Renewal System for a year or so and I really love it. It ?helps that they send it to me for free because I write for them. (They have never asked me to use it or to promote it, but they do keep me supplied and every time someone compliments my skin, I tell them what I use! I guess that is pretty good marketing, huh??)
The Olay product that I tried for the advertorial, I added to my regular skincare routine for several weeks. Unfortunately I left my tube of product in New York when I went up for the photo shoot. I was really hoping to keep using it, and it?s not available in stores just yet. I?m getting to be a woman of a certain age, and I will take all the help I can get fighting fine lines and wrinkles!!
Feel free to check out all the posts in my Ask the Housewife series, and if you have questions you want to ask, you can add them to this post.
About Jo-Lynne Shane
Source: http://www.musingsofahousewife.com/2012/07/ask-the-housewife-round-one-2.html
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