Being A Mum: Finding the Motivation

Written by Bec Anderson

As a stay at home mum for the most part, my focus is purely on the health and well being of my family. 
 
Before kindy and school life started this all seemed fairly straight forward and easy. Healthy breakfast/lunch/dinner/snacks and of course a few treats to balance it out! Walks, playground visits, play dates and simply spending hours in the back yard everyday running and playing. 

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When my favourite boy in the world started kindy there where many changes I expected and many I did not see coming! He was 3 and half years and 23 days old on his first day of kindy. For two days one week and three the next I missed him like nothing else. I was lost! But I packed amazing looking lunch boxes for him with meat and salad wraps, fruit, healthy snacks of all kinds including bars and dried fruits etc. 
 
One day he came home and said something along the lines of "I don't like wraps" then a few days later "I don't like yoghurt" followed by "I don't like cheese" - now if you knew my boy this last one was fall off your chair kind of shocking as we had banned the use of the word cheese around him because he was obsessed with cheese!

By the time we are half way through kindy we are down to jam sandwiches and some fruit. The opinion of others weighed so heavily on his decisions and this has continued through into his schooling years.

​Along with the struggle of feeding him healthy choices he became extremely unmotivated to exercise. "I hate walking", "I hate the park", "I hate being outside". I was at a loss as to what to do. We enrolled him to an afl club at the start of the season. He was clearly a stand out player for all the wrong reasons but I was just glad he was outside and wearing a smile about it. 

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At the start of June (his birthday) he received a Milo kids step counter. I really did not have high expectations on how much this would actually help but to my amazement it has made so much difference! 
 
Not only does he want to reach his step goal everyday and try to get high scores, but it has improved his fitness immensely from doing so. He keeps up with the other kids at football and at the park. It has also given us another tool to use as parents. He can't make it up either because like the adult ones you sync it to your phone! He has changed his eating habits over these holidays which I can only put down to getting enough exercise to allow his mind to want to make healthier choices!
 
Now to do other things he likes and get other rewards he has to have reached his goal the day before. There are no arguments about it. 
 
So if you have a child and you are worried about how their health is and what you can do to increase their exercise, I highly recommend getting a step counter! 
 
It's a constant battle of finding the right tools for you and your family. Good luck Mummies!! ​​​

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​Written by Bec Anderson

After moving around in the Defence posting cycles for many years Bec, along with hubby Mark, has chosen to plant roots and call Townsville home because of it's beautiful weather and family feel.
Bec is a busy mum of 2 just trying to make her way in the world of motherhood, while working part time and building up her cake making business, Paper & Pans.