Mini was getting dressed for bed Friday evening. She came out from the bedroom and her shirt didn’t quite meet her pants…In fact, her shirt came nowhere near her pants. Her belly was too big. By a lot, really. It’s an issue that I’ve noticed and tried to make slight, not-so-feelings-hurting comments on, but I don’t think Mini really caught on…until this weekend.

We had decided to buy her some new clothes for when she’s over. Nothing crazy, just a few pairs of jeans, couple of shirts and some pajamas. AM helped and I can’t stress enough how lucky I am to have her in my life. Apparently in the dressing room, Mini got a little frustrated when clothes she thought would fit didn’t…And that’s when I think the light bulb came on her for her.

After she had made her choices and we were in line to check out, I asked if Mini wanted a soda. She said “No. I have root beer at home and I think two sodas is enough for a weekend. Don’t you?” She had fruit and chicken tenders instead of cheeseburger and fries at lunch, only ate half her ice cream at bedtime and only rarely snacked on half-cups of snack mix during the day Saturday and Sunday. She also drank lots of water and only one can of the root beer. She played Wii Fit and Wii Sports Resorts quite a bit and ran around the park a lot more than she had the last few times we went.

I hope that she’s made the connection between her diet (which is usually a lot of fast food) and her lack of activity. And I hope she’s willing to not ask for so much fast food when she’s with her mother. She’ll definitely eat less fast food when she’s here.

Do your tweens had diet and exercise issues? How do you help them to make better food and activity choices? Share you suggestions, ideas and questions in the comments.

January is “Nutrition Month” here at MomTalk, so we’re all looking at different ways to manage the intake of less-than healthy food for our children. I’ve talked before about the challenges of feeding Mini and the impact of processed and fast foods on my weight. I’ve got a big challenge this coming week.

Mini is coming over for 4 days and nights (she comes over tonight and leaves Sunday afternoon). There’s going to be a significant amount of pressure to “do the easy thing” for meals, which is run to McDonald’s, Bojangles or Chuck E. Cheese. And the pressure isn’t completely incorrect. Fast food is…fast. It’s quick and easy and you can drive through and eat on the way to where ever you’re going.

So, we’ll have to work extra,extra hard to eat at home this weekend. And that may mean dealing with some whining from Mini about it. It’s going to take some pre-planning of meals (especially breakfast and lunch) and some packed snacks in case we go anywhere (I’m hoping for good weather so we can hit the parks).

The hardest part of feeding Mini healthily is that she doesn’t always eat the best when she’s at home. She tells me stories of having two dinners (one on the way home from school and another during the early evening), plus a snack at bedtime. That’s a horrible habit to break and, like all children, she gets cranky when not fed on her schedule.

It’s a challenge to try to do the right thing, instead of the easy thing, when it comes to feeding Mini. Switching up water or juice for soda, three cookies instead of five or seven or ten, and one dinner instead of two. But she’s learning the food habits that will impact the rest of her life now. Teaching her a more healthy way to eat will extend her life. Getting her to see that is pretty hard, though.

What challenges do you face in keeping a healthy diet for your tweenager? Share you ideas, suggestions and questions in the comments.

As parents, our primary focus in life is taking care of our children and raising them “right” (whatever that means these days)…One of the big things we forget in the process of taking care of our kids is taking care of ourselves, both as adults and as humans. This is the first in what will be a pretty long series, I think, on how we (parents) need to remember we need tending.

AM and I are trying to lose some extra and unwanted weight. It’s not healthy to be heavy and we’re not young’ins anymore, so the fast food diet doesn’t always agree with us. For the last two weeks, we’ve done a pretty good job at watching what we eat.

All that came crashing to an end this weekend.

We took Mini to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch on Saturday. We ordered a large pepperoni pizza and allotted two pieces each. Unfortunately, each slice was about 338 calories. Not to mention the fat, cholesterol and other “not-so-goodies” involved and the drinks were nearly just as bad.

We’re going to have to work extra hard this week to make up for the ground lost…And we’re going to have to pre-plan most of our meals this coming weekend, which is good for us, but not necessarily the most fun for Mini.

We’re going to let her pick, plan and prepare one meal to help prepare her for self-sufficiency. I hope she picks a light, and healthy, dinner.

Many families have rushed schedules and lots of activities and sometimes the drive-through at McDonald’s or Taco Bell seems like a good idea. And the cheap meals have the appearance of a good value compared to a grocery bill. It’s a false comparison, of course, but that’s not what Ronald would want you to figure out!

How do you balance hectic schedules and hungry kids with weight and dietary management? Ask your questions and make your suggestions in the comments.