Will The Health Of Your Child Suffer If You Go Back To Work

Online, April 5, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Your children's health and welfare are top priority. No question.

But what if the demands of today's lifestyle are hurting your children and you are not even aware of it?

With the rising cost of trying to give our kids a house, food and some sort of extra curricular activity to be involved in after school, a lot of families have both parents working, or when parents are divorced, there isn't a choice at all.

Here's a bit of an article that really piqued my interest:

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Study: Kids' weight increases when mom works more

(CNN) - The length of a mother's employment is associated with an increase in her child's body mass index, according to a study in the journal Child Development.

It's not the first study to suggest that moms' working hours and kids' weight might be related, but it's likely to peeve some mothers.

"It's not causal, it's an association," said lead author Taryn Morrissey about the trends.

"Nobody found a single smoking gun as a cause of childhood obesity. We found quite a small, but (statistically) significant increase in the body mass index of children. This increase is associated with maternal employment."

Morrissey and her co-authors observed the increase in children's BMI - which, at third grade, was approximately a 1-pound gain for every six months the child's mother worked. The weight gain was cumulative and the link became stronger as the children matured into fifth- and sixth-grade in the analysis of 900 children.

To continue reading more or the article, click on this link: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/02/04/children.bmi.moms/index.html?hpt=Sbin

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The article briefly touched on the aspect that one of the realities that families face when mom goes to work is the loss of a regular "family meal time".

Because of shift work or commuting schedules, lots of families have lost the ability to sit down together and eat dinner. Mom's not at home making dinner while the kids are at school and it's not possible to eat at 5:30 and then jet off to appointments and activities - let's face it, most people aren't event home from work at that time.

When families do get a chance to eat, a lot of the time it's a pre-made store bought meal or even take-out in front of the T.V. or computer. The family splits off to wherever they want to go to grab a few minutes to veg out and eat.

When your mind is concentrating on outside distractions (T.V. computer/phone), a lot of the time you miss the signals the body is trying to send telling you that you're full.

You just keep on eating until the plate is clean, or simply because it tastes good. Afterward you feel full and bloated and keep sitting because you so stuffed. This mindless eating may be one reason that kids are gaining weight.

Juvenile Diabetes is steadily on the rise and can be directly linked to an unhealthy diet and lack of exercise. When both parents are out working during the day, it's a real struggle to get a home cooked meal on the table.

Fast food, or pre-made convenience foods have become a staple on many shopping lists. When you take a look at the trade offs between the health of your kids (and yourself) and a busy schedule with never enough time, it's just not worth it.

When I'm out grocery shopping and take a look at other shoppers carts, the amount of boxed foods and ready made stuff is really shocking, not to mention way too expensive. I've been there and done that, and I got really tired of paying for food that not only tasted crappy, but was bad for my family. I started to notice subtle changes in my kids bodies and decided to take early action.

By making a few changes like family menu planning and preparing a few meals for the week on the weekend, I found it a lot easier to shop for meals based on the ingredients I needed for the recipes. So far we've been able to have at least three meals throughout the week together as a family. We're trying for more, but for now I'll take what I've got.

Another thing that has worked in my house to get the kids revved up about meal time happened after listening to a radio talk show talk about family mealtime.

The guest suggested that if you create some anticipation around the meals, kids will look forward and be more interested. She suggested lots of different things and one was "Taco Tuesdays". It stuck in my mind so I thought I'd give it a try and it's been a huge hit.

It's funny because, sometimes I won't even realize it's Tuesday until one of the kids is on their way to school and they'll say "Bye mom, see ya tonight for Tacos". We've been having a family taco dinner for about a month and a half and there's no sign of boredom setting in. It makes my life easier, because I don't have to think about one meal out of the week and I just automatically pick-up the stuff I know I'll need. Plus it's a quick meal to prepare.

I use low fat cheese and make some quick homemade guacamole to get some healthy Omega 3 fat into the meal. Recently, I added corn & black bean salsa to introduce some new ingredients into their diet & stealthily bump up the "health" value of the meal and so far so good.

A mom's work is never done and that's made even harder when she works outside of the house. As the article said, there isn't one clear reason why kids' BMIs are increasing when moms go out to work, but one of the strong indicators point to diet and exercise.

Trying to make some changes in the meal department may seem like one more thing to add to an already hectic schedule, but it's so important and the earlier you start, the less resistance you'll get. If you've got younger kids, they're more open to change and still want to try to please mom & dad.

If you've got opinionated teens, I feel for you because it's going to be more of a struggle, but hang tight. A good piece of advice I'd like to give based on my own experience is to no make too many changes all at once. It's just setting yourself up for failure and you'll just end up back to the same old choices and feeling frustrated and guilty.

For many moms, the reality of having to go to work isn't going to change anytime in the near future and for lots, they choose to work because it brings them personal fulfillment. So, moms need to look for ways that will help keep their kids health moving in the right direction even though they're out of the house. Find a way to start to bring your family together at mealtime and take the first step to realize the important role food plays in your families life and how you can make it a positive one.

Sending positive thoughts your way as you give it a try!