Give your kids healthy rules to live by

As I sit here typing this, my three-year-old -- according to her anyway -- desperately needs a cookie. The trouble is, it's only 8:44 A.M. and she just had breakfast. It's not easy being being the one who has to enforce healthy habits, because I'm sure things would be a lot more pleasant around here if I'd just give her the cookie. But teaching kids good healthy habits are part of being a parent.

Denying a poor little child an A.M. cookie and giving her some fruit instead isn't really all that tough. But when kids get older, we not only give up some of our influence over them to friends, teachers, and TV commercials, we also aren't with them every minute of the day.

I like the idea of "family health rules." Just as kids know that they need to look both ways before they cross the street, they should also be taught about the importance of healthy lifestyle habits. FamilyDoctor.org has some great suggestions for laying the groundwork for family health rules. Teaching healthy habits is a lot easier when kids learn them from the get-go (like no cookies for breakfast), but even if you're just now making lifestyle changes for yourself and your older children, it's not too late to teach them healthy habits that will last a lifetime.