Yes, Please. Thanks!: Teaching Children of All Ages Manners, Respect and Social Skills for Life. Penny Palmano

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СКАЧАТЬ E211, saturated fats and anything ‘Hydrogenated’.

      ‘But My Children Love Fizzy Drinks and Snacks’

      There is nothing wrong with the occasional packet of crisps or a fizzy drink, but they should not be part of the daily diet. If we keep sugar-laden drinks, high-fat snacks and sweets in the house, the temptation for our children to ask/moan/beg for them is quite natural. So to avoid having any confrontation, only buy them when you want them, perhaps for a weekend. Quite simply, if these products are not in the house, there is no issue, and everyone is much healthier and happier all round.

      Getting Off to a Good Start – Breakfast

      The British Nutrition Foundation urges all parents to ensure that their children eat breakfast to improve their performance at school. Researchers have reported that foods with a low glycemic index (GI) are far better for your children than foods with a high glycemic index. But, as we all have busy lives to lead, I’ll cut to the chase. Wholegrain breads, porridge, muesli and high-fibre cereals are good (low GI). Cereals such as cornflakes or chocolate-flavoured cereals and white bread are not good (high GI).

      Children who eat a low-GI breakfast will be less hungry at lunchtime and less likely to want to snack between meals.

      Children who eat a high-GI breakfast will have an initial energy boost then feel sluggish. They will be hungrier by lunchtime and are far more likely to snack.

      Research on children aged 9–16 given sugar-laden snacks for breakfast (simple carbohydrates) showed levels of performance equivalent to 70-year-olds!

      Healthy breakfasts may include a combination of the following: smoothies (yogurt and fruit shakes), fresh milkshakes with fruit, wholegrain toast with peanut butter or a banana, a boiled egg, fresh fruit, high-fibre cereal and fruit juice, milk or water to drink.

      Exercise

      Try and get your children to exercise as often as possible. By restricting your children’s TV and computer time it should be easier to get them outside, whether it’s for a game of frisbee in the park or walking to the shops. If they enjoy sport, encourage them to join a local club.

      Invest in a battery-operated dance mat or one which plugs into the PC or Playstation; children will dance away for hours following the ‘right steps’.

      The School Run

      So many children are chauffeured everywhere these days that the opportunity to walk has been severely curtailed. Sadly, as a result of today’s society, parents are also concerned about the risk their children may be exposed to by walking in public. One solution is to drive part of the way to school and to walk the remainder with your child.

      Teenagers’ Eating Habits

      If children grow up aware that their mothers have been perpetually trying new diets, weighing themselves and commenting on their weight, they may well grow up with the same anxieties which can lead to eating disorders.

      Growing teenagers are permanently hungry and are happy to continually graze on snacks throughout the day (the expression ‘eating me out of house and home’ springs to mind), so rather than fill the cupboards with sugar-laden, high-fat snacks, make sure that there are plenty of healthy snacks in the house, like fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, plain biscuits, brown wholegrain bread and fillings for sandwiches and toasties. If you buy crisps, choose the low-fat variety.

      Home-cooking and eating as a family around the table is the easiest way to make sure the family has a good nutritional evening meal, and a way of seeing exactly what your teenager is eating.

      Comfort Foods

      We’ve all been there, feeling low and depressed. The first thing we do is hit the biscuit tin then feel more depressed that we ate most of the contents. As we would much prefer our children to never turn to food for comfort, try to avoid giving them treat foods as a consolation when they are growing up. Try and start a new regime of going for a walk or some other type of exercise if you are feeling low. The fresh air and exercise will immediately start to make you feel better.

      Respecting Other Children’s Dietary Needs

      Always respect the dietary needs of children visiting your home. Their parents will tell you what they must avoid and, to make life easier on everyone, simply do not have that product available to your own children on that particular day. I only mention this because I know of a situation where a mother gave a biscuit as a treat to a young playmate of her children. Unfortunately, the child was hypersensitive to sugar but was too young to realize any different, and was as high as a kite for about four days.

What Children Really Need

      Forget the DVDs, TVs, Playstations, designer trainers and designer clothes (except, obviously, for us). What children really need (as opposed to what they think they need) is a combination of love, discipline, attention, communication, routine, continuity, consistency, example and respect, and wouldn’t it be simple if we could just go and buy them. But nobody said bringing up children was going to be simple. As every child is different, only you will work out how much of all these vital components your particular child needs to find the right combination.

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       Love

      How to Show Love

      Our children need to feel and know that they are loved, with that unconditional love that only we, their parents, can give them which is not tied to the way they behave or perform and cannot be withdrawn as a means of manipulation. Love needs to be shown in different ways, by physical affection, by showing respect and acceptance, and by the way we care for and nurture our children.

      From day one, babies physically and mentally need bodily contact to bond with their parents. And it’s not just as babies that your children need to be cuddled, but all through their developing years to adulthood. Even adults enjoy a hug with their parents. Children need the reassurance that physical contact in the form of kisses and cuddles, a stroke of the cheek, or an arm around a shoulder can provide. We should reinforce how we feel by actually telling them that they are loved.

      Far too many parents neglect, unintentionally, to demonstrate enough physical contact to their children as they grow up. And whilst a 14-year-old may dislike showing any physical emotion towards their parents in front of their friends, they will be just as happy to have a hug with their mother or father when they get home.

      Parents who had a loving childhood may find it easier to show love than parents who were deprived of physical love as children, so some parents have to make more effort to be physical, but it is absolutely essential that children never have to question their parents’ love for them.

      Young children enjoy seeing their parents showing affection to each other; СКАЧАТЬ