You’re not the Only One!
Sometimes it just helps to know you’re not the only family whose kids balk at health-based lifestyle choices. While shirking is bound to happen, the best we can do as parents is to keep showing the best example we can and keep offering and encouraging the best choices. Fortunately, while they’re young, they may not even know they’re making a healthier choice, it’s just what mom and dad are giving them! (My kids didn’t know what Mc Donalds was for years!) I decided to interview my kids on their thoughts about living this “Barefoot in the Grass” lifestyle and hopefully inspire you!
Fighting the Best Kind of Battles
The good news is that while we may have our battles, usually if we’re doing the best we can to help our kids live healthy lives, we’re probably fighting with our kids about stuff most parents could only wish they were arguing with their kids about! I’m pushing for liver consumption instead of apples. (I know kids who won’t even eat fruit!) I may be encouraging my son to eat his meat and veggies but he’s already drinking raw milk, taking cod liver oil, eating sauerkraut (He balks at that too, sometimes!) and has a lot of other really healthy habits. He goes around barefoot most of the time, so we’ve got a lot going for us and it’s important to remember the things we can be grateful for. Our efforts will certainly not be in vain!
The Conversation
So, let’s begin. My daughter is currently nine and my son is seven, and I’ll refer to them as ‘daughter’ and ‘son’ for privacy.
Mom: “So, tell me, what is a ‘Barefoot in the Grass‘ life?”
Son… “We walk a lot…we ground and sit in the sunshine quite a bit.”
“We walk a lot…we ground and sit in the sunshine quite a bit.”
Daughter: “It can be exciting but sometimes it gets old.” (Fair enough! Ha! Exciting and old?? How is that possible?)
Son: “We’re eating healthy food all the time.”
Son: “Liver is not too nice.“
Daughter: “For me, it’s just liver. Liver gets old.” (I’m laughing again… liver has such a bad rap with my kids! I promise, I really do try!)
Son: “ You can always keep yourself nice and fit if you’re in my house.” (I’m laughing again. Lately my husband and I have each started a new workout plan.)
Living in a ‘WiFi – Less’ House
Son: “The phone always stays on airplane mode and you can never actually get a call from anybody.” (Not completely fair…I do keep it on more than I really would like to!)
Daughter: “Wires are all over my house.” (This is true! Once we are in a more permanent space, we’ll try to run the wires behind the walls. We’ve wired in all of our computers and have two wires to the office, one to the bedroom and three to the living room.)
Earth Runner Sandals
Mom: “What do you think about Earth Runner sandals?” (Earth Runners are minimal sole sandals that have grounding plugs on the bottom.)
Daughter: “It took a while for me to get used to them, but I really like being able to wear something that’s easy to put on and off. They do feel nice.”
Son: “You can get really nice colors. They have bands with metal in them. (It’s funny the main concern here is color!;) Kids, for ya’! He’s referring to the copper wire that runs through the laces so you can ground directly into your body.)
Daughter: “As well as having quite a few health benefits and working as everyday shoes, they can also be quite fancy and a fun accessory.” (My daughter loves fancy clothes! I wonder if this has something to do with the number of ‘Fancy Nancy’ books we read to her when she was younger?)
Son: “My mom has a yoga mat with a grey line with metal in it that connects to the ground.” (He’s referring to my grounding yoga mat. It has a grounding strip that connects to the grounding outlet in the electrical socket.)
Tea Drinking
Mom: “What do you like about drinking tea?”
Daughter: “I enjoy making tea. Peppermint is my favorite. I like drinking out of these little cups that have fish on the bottom so it looks like a fish swimming in a pond when you drink tea.” (I bought this set of teacups where each cup has a respective bloom of the lotus flower from bud to full bloom. They’re tiny but cute and the kids love them!)
“I like drinking out of these little cups that have fish on the bottom so it looks like a fish swimming in a pond when you drink tea.”
Mom: “What else?”
On Growing Food
Son: “If you’re in my house, you grow food.
“If you’re in my house, you grow food.”
Mine died. They all died except for the basil and stevia.” (Kids are so honest! I’m covering my face in shame… guys I had a lovely veggie garden as a teenager, but didn’t touch gardening again until this year and I’ll admit, I haven’t been that successful with my potted plants… but I won’t give up!! I have a dream!! …. of a beautiful flourishing vegetable, herb, flower and tree garden!)
On Nature Outings
Son: A lot of the time my mom organizes nature outings with me and my sister and my dad. (I actually wish I organized more!! I’ve been trying to do one camping trip per month in the cool fall months.)
Daughter: “Nature outings are really fun!”
On Walking
Daughter: “In our house, you use legs, more than you use cars.” (Haha,… well that’s true right now. My mom (grandma) lives a five-minute walk from us, so we walk there a lot! We also take bike rides fairly often.)
Son: “Sometimes I get tired of walking.” (I’m proud of you, boy! It’s been a challenge to get both of my kids to enjoy walking.)
On Adventure Sports
Son: “My mom really wants to buy mountain bikes, so that she could use them for a mountain bike trail.” (Although I’ve only been about mountain biking three times in my life, it’s still a dream of mine!!)
A Healthy Family Lifestyle – Some Takeaways
I hope you get excited about trying some of these healthy habits with YOUR kids! Here are some practical suggestions to get started with:
- PLAN A NATURE OUTING: Get your calendar out, talk to your spouse and plan out a nature outing. It may be just a simple walk outside or a walk to the park or it may be a full-on camping trip!
- GET GROUNDING WITH YOUR KIDS. Teach your kids all about the importance of grounding. You could try a picnic on small cushions so their feet are still grounding…reading books outside…watching clouds… climbing a tree…playing outside… just do all of it without shoes!
- TRY A NEW LOOSE LEAF TEA WITH THEM!: Caffeine-free options my kids like include rooibos, peppermint, lavender, chamomile, dried fruit (from a local tea vendor). Add in some raw honey, and they’ll love it! Make it a special moment with fun cups and all!
- TRY A NEW LIVER RECIPE: Yup… my kids aren’t big liver fans… but since it’s soooo good for them, I try to work out new ways to get it down all the time. There are a few recipes I make on rotation to try and make the liver more palatable for our kids.
I hope you get inspired to get your kids in on the ‘barefoot grass’ lifestyle…Let me know in the comments if you got a laugh or were inspired to try any of these ideas!!? I’m here to cheer you on and support you all the way!
