Every male member on one side of my family has died before the age of 60. There are lots of reasons, but mostly they didn’t take care of themselves and didn’t listen to anything any doctor had to say.
My dad has made huge strides in breaking this trend. He’s had multiple stints, bypass surgery, survived cancer, and battles diabetes but he listens to the doctors. (And he’s on an exercise plan. I’m pretty excited about that!)
Even when my younger brother and I were small, Mom and Dad taught us how to control our eating, to listen to doctors, and to exercise. I remember running in Malaysia with my Dad when I was eight or nine. They encouraged us to be active. They bought us anything we needed to pursue active hobbies. They bought all my camping equipment when I was in Scouts. Dad went with me and bought my rock climbing shoes, harness and chalk bag. They did the same for my brother when he pursued baseball and basketball. They pretty much supported anything that allowed us to be physically active.
I remained physically active through college. But, as the story goes, I got married, had kids, and let the physically activity coast to a stop.
When I turned 30, my metabolism decided it had worked hard enough. I started putting on a bit of weight here and there. Nothing huge, but alarming nonetheless.
I didn’t like where I was heading physically. I wanted to be able to play with my kids and grandkids without the limitations my father’s health places on him. About 2 months ago I started working out to an old step aerobics video. It was great, but wasn’t working fast enough. A couple of weeks ago, I found this workout, http://www.fitnessdietcenter.com/navy-seals/. I’m too old to enlist, but I thought, “The SEALs would be great role models for getting into shape. I think I’ll give it a go.” I also joined my daughter’s Tae Kwan Do class on Friday nights.
So far, the workout is going well. (I’ve been pretty sore!) I was way too out of shape to start up immediately. I’m actually working up to Week One. I should be there the first week of November. I am going to post my exercise journal on my blog, http://www.pauldwatson.com, if you want to join me, or if you just want to follow along.
Christi and I are also following my parent’s example and encouraging our children to be active. Son does ‘Play for Sport’ at the local preschool and Daughter is a yellow belt in Tae Kwan Do. (She outranks me and I’m cool with it!)
I know this post has been longer than most on this blog, but I have a point: What bad habits does your family have? What have you done in your life to break those family habits? How are you helping your kids break those habits? Yours may not be physical. Perhaps they are educational, vocational, or financial. Regardless, are you living in a way to help your kids break the chains of that family habit?
Think about it.
*****
I thought I’d leave you with a video of my daughter breaking boards at a city health fair. I was completely impressed! I see this video as one success from my parents’ decision to break unhealthy family habits!
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Paul, that was a great post! Thanks for your transparency. Keep up the good writing and the healthy living. A friend, who is a therapist, says that the last 15 minutes of a child's day are sub-consciously replayed many times during the night. A great way to tap into this is to build a good bed-time routine that sets those important minutes. Having a large photo of that child being active (kicking the goal, breaking the board, etc.) in the room where it is easily seen from the child's sleeping position and then calling to memory that moment as a form of blessing, can program the sub-conscious mind to re-live the success. Another candid photo of the family together really enjoying the moment can also reinforce the sense of being loved. Thanks for reminding me of these ideas. They were shared more than 15 years ago. JKK