Settling back into school life
It's common to feel out of sorts when there are big changes happening in our lives. Think of when you have experienced a big change, how have you felt - nervous, anxious, scared, not confident etc?
For our kids, returning back to school is a big change. There's a new teacher (or in the case of children moving into high school, multiple teachers), new class mates, new lessons, new rules at the school etc. That's a lot of new things for our children to manage.
Don't be too concerned if their eating habits at school and home change for a week or few. They are settling in. What they choose to eat is one of the few things they can control. This give them a sense of relief.
My suggestion is to
go gentle and let go of your fears during this time.
allow them to settle in.
but I encourage you to stand in your power as the parent:
Going gentle and letting go doesn't mean to 'give in' and buy them what ever they want and then you not be happy about it.
Make it easy for them to make better choices. Provide them with food options that you are happy for them to choose from.
You maybe thinking that's strange advice when I'm telling you to go gentle and let go, so let me explain by talking about standing in your power.
Standing In Your Power
In this month's KHQ Coaching Q&A session, a couple of mum's raised concerns about the amount of sugar their children are eating.
In the coaching session we spoke about the Division of Responsibility when it comes to eating. As I always say, nutrition starts way before eating. When it comes to feeding your family, it is super important to knowing what your job is and what your children's job is.
Inside KHQ members have on-demand access to an expert in depth interview on the topic of the Division of Responsibility, but I'm going to summarise it here for you.
• You are responsible for the what, where and when of food;
• Your child is responsible for whether they eat it and how much.
As part of the coaching, we explored the division of responsibility by pondering this:
If the children are eating too much sugar at home, how are they getting this 'too much sugar'?
Please remember, as the health coach for my KHQ Village, I always provide this coaching from a place of love and respect. I'm a mum too and I understand the juggling act, but it is my job to ask these probing questions
Of course, they recognised there is too much sugar in the house because they are buying it.
In buying it, they are making it an option for their kids to choose from.
Then they are not happy when their kids choose it.
We always have to go back to the basics:
Make it easy for them to make better choices. Provide them with food options that you are happy for them to choose from.
Go back to what your job is. To provide the what, where and when of food. It's not about all or nothing, it's just about what's a turtle step you can take to reduce the quantity and frequency of it being consumed.
Going gentle and letting go for the next few weeks is about offering the what, where and when of food, but lovingly allowing your children to decide whether to eat it and how much.
Give your children the space to adjust to the big new changes by allowing them to control this one little element they can. If you're offering nourishing foods, then they will at least be eating a little or a lot of that.