Don't Neglect This Aspect of Parenting

Your kids are counting on you

Today I interviewed Zane Griggs for the Thinking Health Podcast. Zane is a coach and fitness educator who just published a book called Kicking Ass After 50. This book is about what men need to do to keep their health in order so they can have energy and vitality into their 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond.

This message isn’t just for the guys though!

During our interview, we ended up on the topic of fatherhood and parenting as a whole and how difficult it can be in today’s society to lead our kids to a healthy lifestyle. Given the current state of pediatric health, I’m not sure there is a more important health topic.

Over the last year, we have been fed some bullshit about how obesity and poor health is genetic. How it’s not our fault that our children are the unhealthiest children in the history of mankind. How it’s not our fault that type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases are now occurring in CHILDREN.

We have been given excuses that point the finger elsewhere and take the accountability out of our hands as adults and parents. All of which has led to bariatric surgery and weight loss medications now being approved for children as young as age 12!

This is nonsense and a topic that I will not be very sensitive about. It is our duty as parents to help set our kids up for success. It is our job to set an example for them so that they can grow up and become strong, resilient, HEALTHY individuals.

Part of this job of setting our children up for success is helping them learn what being healthy looks like and I don’t think our society takes this aspect of raising children seriously enough. Likely because many of us haven’t been able to figure out this aspect of life for ourselves.

And if that’s you, maybe this is the “why” you have been waiting for.

Now, I will say that the cards are stacked against us. We live in a society where it is easier to be unhealthy than it is to be healthy. Even governing health agencies seem to lead our children down a path toward poor health. But with the idea of focusing on what we can control in mind, I will also say that it is up to us to protect our children.

Teaching our children how to be healthy is as important as areas that we do tend to prioritize as parents such as education and safety. Teaching our children how to be healthy is what will allow them to grow up and be in the minority of people that aren’t suffering from chronic disease and plagued with depression and anxiety. Teaching our children to be healthy is what ensures that they are productive contributors to their communities and set up for the life of success that we imagine for them.

It’s on us as parents.

Don’t confuse this message with me saying that this is an easy task. This couldn’t be further from the truth. I only have a 2 year old and I can already tell you…it’s hard as hell! But so is parenting in general and this is a difficult aspect of the role we play as parents that we need to take seriously.

If you haven’t taken it seriously yet, this also is meant to guilt you. Rather, this is meant to be your wake-up call that your children need you to set an example for them. They need you to be healthy so you can show them how to be healthy. If you don’t want to do it for yourself, that’s okay. But I think we can both agree that you should do it for them…

Thanks for reading,

Chris Irvin

P.S. New episodes of the Thinking Health Podcast are dropping weekly. If you are digging the material you are reading in this newsletter, then subscribe to my Thinking Health Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcast!