Educate, inspire and motivate!

I am going to be doing a training session for the teachers at my local school; however, before I do that, I will be giving the children a short lecture during their assembly on "Health Bodies". I am more excited at the prospect of speaking to 6 to 9 year olds than I am about the teachers (although, don't get me wrong, I love teaching the teachers too)!

The thought on my mind today is about being an inspiration and an educator to your child. Children don't do things because they are told to do them, or through fear of being punished. We need to find ways to motivate them to make healthy choices and to have the self esteem to stand out amongst the crowd for making those choices.

The first step, is moving the locus of control to the child by educating them and communicating with them. We need to create the boundaries for the child, but give them control within those boundaries. They need to have a degree of free choice when making decisions about what they eat, how they eat, or how they choose to spend their free time. Educating them about the benefits of exercise, physical activity, eating healthily is an obvious first step, but what about educating them about the "bad stuff"? Do we use scare tactics? I don't have the right answer but I am sharing what I think is perhaps a strategy that we can use as parents, teachers and as health professionals. I think that above all else, we, as the educators, need to educate ourselves. Read the latest research; follow the scientists on Twitter; watch TED talks about children, how they learn, what inspires them, learn about what screen time does to us physiologically and psychologically; find out about the evidence behind promoting a low refined carbohydrate/low sugar diet; learn your facts about why physical activity is important-and then, pass on the message!

A second step is leading by example. If you can make changes to your lifestyle, it is much easier for the child to follow. Throw about the sweets, crisps, chocolates in your house. Drink water, rather than cooldrinks. Start walking for half an hour a day (that is all it takes!) or just park 10 minutes away from the school and walk with your child to school. Recent evidence has suggested that schools need to lead by example as well, by making fundamental changes to their environment. What foods are being sold in the tuckshop? What are we offering for school lunches? Are all forms of physical activity encouraged? Is effort being rewarded rather than success or achievement?

I have recently come across a clip from a TV show in the US that was looking at schools that rewarded effort as much as they rewarded achievement. They were awarding and grading students according to their attitude and effort towards their school life. This resulted in a CPA grade or Character point Average. What a great idea! Children need to view their school career as a series of challenges, with each challenge gearing them up and preparing them for the wider world. What better way to do this than to acknowledge that effort is a good thing; not a sign of weakness. Thus, I have come a full circle, as I truly believe that the child must feel motivated to adopt a healthy lifestyle. They must feel in control of this and they should feel that putting effort into adopting this lifestyle should be rewarded. I will continue to seek out more information and read more of the literature as to how we do this-practical ways and tips, but in the meantime, whilst the scientists are investigating this, let us put some of the established facts into action and start a revolution in getting children to make their own healthy choices!