A Pat on the Back

Every mom enjoys a little motherhood success.

I was talking with a friend recently about our kids and the food choices they make. We were applauding her 3 year old daughters disgust towards canned spaghetti and hoping that turning down junk/processed foods would continue to be a habit for her.

What foods are served to Maddy has always been a sort of parenting-obsession of mine. Luke and I work hard to fuel our bodies with healthy foods and we have worked hard to try and limit the amount of junk that Maddy can get her hands on since she was born. The first bite of cake she ever had was at her 1st birthday and it was a homemade whole

wheat carrot cake made with applesauce instead of sugar and oil and packed with flax seed meal.

I struggled with my weight until after my wedding. More importantly I struggled with my eating. Once I figured out how to eat what my body needed instead of what I wanted the extra weight fell off of me and I lost about 2o pounds. I still eat ice cream and cookies every now and then, my sweet tooth is no secret, but I have learned how to eat these things in moderation. My goal is to not only tell Maddy how to eat right but show her how to eat right, be healthy and feel good about her body. I don’t want her to go through the self-esteem struggle of being overweight like I did and the best way to do that is to lead by example and to ask that others in her life help her make good choices as well.

Luke and I have gotten some push back on our choices for Maddy, just like I think all parents get from people around them. Everyone has opinions, we recognize that and continue trying to give our daughter a healthy foundation for her to hopefully last her lifetime.

I overheard Maddy and her best buddy Boo deep in a game of pretend play the other day. They were baking things for each other and listening to their baking ingredients made my mommy heart nearly explode. Flax seed meal, and whole wheat flour, apple sauce and oats, nuts and seeds and strawberries and raisins. While listening in on their game of pretend play I couldn’t help but give myself a little pat on the back. It is nice to feel like I am doing something right that the struggle with the world around up is paying off.

Of course sometimes they pretend like they are going to the ice cream shop, but moderation is the name of the game and I think these girls, at 2 1/2 and 3 years old have a pretty good handle on that. Something that took me more than 2 decades to figure out is just a normal part of their thinking and I couldn’t be happier.

I’m not going to lie, it feels good to see our hard work paying off.

When have you had to give yourself a pat on the back for parenting gone right?