The Mom I Want to Be

 

Hitting the books shouldn’t hurt. Help your favorite student get an A+ in health.

 

Stay action-packed. The end of summer shouldn’t mean the end of outdoor activities. Sign kids up for a sport or send them out to ride bikes or walk the dog. If you live near school, skip the bus and walk your child to class.

 

Log off. Hours spent at the computer may lead to eyestrain and an aching neck and back. Make sure kids sit at least two feet from the monitor and take breaks, says Dana Weintraub, MD, of the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

 

Schedule sleep. Avoid lost zzz’s by having your child gradually go to bed and get up earlier during the week or two before classes start. Nixing big meals and caffeine before bedtime may also help.

 

Ban heavy bags. Backpacks shouldn’t weigh more than 10% to 15% of a child’s weight. Look for pads on the shoulder straps and back, and put the heaviest items closest to the body. For extra support, get a bag with a waist strap or a backpack on wheels.

 

Mind the menu. For lunches, focus on fruits, veggies, dairy and whole grains.

 

A shocking number of children are overweight and obese, and doctors are seeing increasingly high levels of cholesterol in children, even those with no family history of high cholesterol. To help your kids maintain a healthy diet and healthy cholesterol levels:

 

Pack their lunches. That way you can at least try to ensure they get something healthy instead of the fried and starchy foods that dominate most school cafeterias. (The three most common foods ordered in elementary school cafeterias are ground beef, chicken nuggets or patties, and cheese.)

 

Limit fast food. Set a cap of no more than one or two fast-food meals a month, and when you do make a fast-food visit, push the salads, plain baked potatoes, and broiled chicken. If the kids must have hamburgers, order them without cheese.

 

Forget white. White bread, white rice, white pasta, that is. Serve their peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat bread and their meatballs on whole wheat pasta.

 

Make it easy. Cut up a bowl of fruit and put it before your TV-gazing kids. They’ll eat it as if it were popcorn. Better yet, turn the TV off and serve the fruit to them after they’ve finished a bike ride around the block.

 

Set an example. The best way to make sure your kids live a heart-healthy lifestyle is to live one yourself. What could be more rewarding than to see benefits not only to your cholesterol, but to your children’s as well.