Notes for Healthy Kids

by Rujuta Diwekar

It thrives on the fact that ‘educated’ means someone who has stopped listening to grandmother and has turned to Google for all research.

Your child has a survival instinct and eating will come naturally. i will go to the extent of saying that eating sensibly will come naturally. The question is, will you allow it?

Other than your birthday or on the day you stood first in class or came home to announce that you were the school captain or till you were down with flu, no one at home did anything to please you. They loved you, yes. But no one serviced you.

We are complicating the smallest of issues because we want to be our kids’ friends, not their parents. Being a parent is an opportunity; we must not let it pass. There’s plenty of time to be friends later. For now, be a parent; lead, guide.

Letting a child be is an act of extreme courage. Because it’s an act of letting go. And almost nothing is as binding as the attachment to a child. From attachment comes fear. Fear that somehow we are not good enough parents, that somehow we are not feeding them enough protein or calcium or even vitamins, fear that we are depriving them of a good life. And fear, you must remember, is the opposite of love and good health.

Fact: Local, seasonal and traditional food is good for you Fear: Food that has proteins, fats and carbs in a certain ratio is good for you

(popcorn, alcohol, chocolate, coffee is allowed on all diets, please note)

Make exercise a non-negotiable part of your life.

Once a week, walk with them to school. Fitness has to be intricately woven into our lifestyle, and movement is one of the best ways of making it happen.

Essentially, take holidays where you will be moving physically, where the network won’t work and where there won’t be anything to buy.

Don’t stop them from playing because of the weather. Too many kids have been kept away from playing because it is either raining, too hot, too cold, etc. Weather conditions are natural and recurring, and if you allow them, kids will find a way to play things that are weather-suitable. E.g., cricket in the summer, football in the rains.

Learn a balancing movement, like cycling, skating, skiing, gymnastics

Learn at least one classical instrument or dance

Ninety minutes of free play, every day

Good sleep quality: Falls asleep almost at the same time every night and has an undisturbed sleep through the night. Doesn’t find the need to sleep endlessly over weekends / holidays (an hour extra is fine).

A homemade achaar, morambas or khata-meetha chutneys for the kids. Have one teaspoon a day with roti or bhakri or paratha or a wholesome meal, to keep the gut resilient and maintain gut integrity.

Limit use of refrigerator and feed fresh meals.

No anger, stress, smoking, alcohol around the kid.

Don’t unnecessarily medicate or use antibiotics. Remind yourself of the basics, like a cold takes seven days to recover, a viral cannot be treated with antibiotics, and falling sick a couple of days or up to ten days in one year is totally ok. Normal life.

Bedtime and wake-up time fixed and strictly adhered to. And the basics again, you should be up before the kid, or at least a respon...

Limit gadgets and screens of all kinds to thirty minutes max per day. And no extension on weekends. You can exclude the school work or an odd movie that you watch from the thirty minutes, but other than that strictly monitor. And let me state the obvious — no screen during meals and no screen in the bedroom.

Nothing out of a packet. No ketchup, dips, crackers, biscuits, nachos, tortillas, nothing, zilch. No colas, no coffees, no chocolates, no chais. No ordering out, pizzas or whatever, and no, it doesn’t help that you ordered the low-cal, low-fat version. And also, no ready-made attas — buy your own gehu and mill it at a local chakki.

Homemade dahi or chaas — either by itself or with a meal or as a dish like khandvi, kadhi, ukad, etc.

PARENTS Ensure that all members of the family work in the kitchen and do small tasks at home themselves.