When you feel sad, lonely, depressed, frightened, bored, angry or stressed how often do you reach to food for comfort? For that little stash that we know all too well, reserved for occasions such as these? You may not be aware, but this behaviour is engrained in us from a young age, and it should STOP NOW! We are not dogs, we shouldn’t reward ourselves, or attempt to console our emotions with food. It is only making matters worse.
If you have ever spent time out in public parks, beaches, shopping malls or even a movie theatre. I’m certain that you have witnessed the frustration of a mother trying to soothe her tantrum throwing two year old! Maybe you are reading this as a mother and are nodding your head right now!
We know all too well that this can be an awkward experience for both mother and spectator.. and unfortunately the most common thing you see when a tantrum is being thrown is a mother bribing their distressed child with food and unfortunately for this future adult, the wrong kinds of food. In their desperate attempts to soothe their child and regain ‘control’ parents will often fill them up with chips, sweets or chocolates. This is where the behaviour is taught.
Due to this ‘training’, when these children become adults, they will often mirror this behaviour as a form of reward for themselves, and as they become parents, well you guessed it.. this behaviour will continue. It is not something we do intentionally, and no blame is being put on these parents, they are only doing what they have been taught, and know is the best way to soothe their screaming child.
However, with this kind of quick fix problem solving, we have unknowingly contributed to the obesity epidemic of this generation, and as long as we don’t do anything about it or bring any awareness to the detriments that this behaviour has on us as adults, then nothing is going to change.
Think about it this way, we are creating generations of emotional eaters. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 63% of the Australian adult population is overweight (link). Emotional eaters account for a larger percentage of these figures. This behaviour is then passed down to future generations. It is a vicious cycle of bad behaviour that needs to be addressed.
Rewarding yourself or your children with food definitely results in us becoming a nation of overweight adults, start today by introducing some new rewards into your household. We’ve got some ideas to show you how easy it is to teach your children responsibility, whilst getting them into the right kind of habits to build foundations to a healthy lifestyle.
Toddlers
Love, a huge hug
Listening to bed stories
Playing with friends
Bringing a friend to sleep over
Finger paining
Staying up late
Going to the park
6 to 12
Planning a days activities
Going out to the Zoo
Eating out at their fav restaurant
Camping in the backyard
Taking a trip to the park
Teens
Taking time off from chores
Camping in the backyard
Eating out
Staying out one night without curfew
Having friends over
Having car privileges
Getting to sleep in late on the weekend
Helping them out with more data for their gadgets such as mob phone
Adults
There are 3 types of rewards,
Affection, Praise and Attention & Activity
A romantic weekend getaway with that special someone
Perhaps a girls night away from the family to unwind and relax, let the hubby look after the kids for a while!
Remember: It’s never too late to make positive changes to a bad habit
All of these are not just great ideas, but they help to build a sense of trust between you and your children from a young age. Creating a stronger bond and a more fulfilled life, leaving more room for adventure and fun.
Use your imagination, come up with some of your own and let us know in the comments section so we can continue to help the population become less dependant on food as reward!
Personally, I love living an active lifestyle, the way I reward myself is by saving money towards an adventure, Skydiving, Paragliding, a weekend away perhaps.. Something that gets me out of my comfort zone!
Or maybe I’ll reward myself by spending some quality time with my 3 beautiful daughters, affection is a vital part of life, so spending time with your loved ones is essential to happiness.
Stay away from quick sugar fixes as a reward. If however you decide that a nice lunch or dinner date is the way to go to celebrate that job promotion, or reaching that goal weight. Then do so in moderation and remember… dessert always tastes better when its shared!
