Great tips from the recent “Like Mother, Like Daughter” Summit in D.C.  I have boys, but the tips relate to any kids.  I had hoped to attend, but instead, caught up after and wanted to share some great tips from the report that we can use to model healthy behaviors for our children:

  1. Eat the foods and drink the beverages that you want your children to consume.
  2. Make every effort to have family meals at home in which parents serve as role models, and make those meals full of enjoyment and free of criticism.
  3. Encourage lowfat or fat free milk at every meal and limit soft drinks and other sugary beverages, which often displace milk and add significant amounts of empty calories to children’s diets.
  4. Exercise together and exercise independently to serve as active role models.
  5. Avoid pressure or restrictive feeding practices at mealtime. Authoritative parenting strategies are more conducive to healthy feeding practices than are authoritarian styles.
  6. Engage in healthy lifestyle changes to address weight, rather than restrictive, unhealthy diets.
  7. Refrain from making negative comments about food, your body or your child’s body.
  8. Foster positive body image and high self-esteem by complimenting qualities other than appearance.

Editor’s Note:  Great ideas, and I’d say gender neutral – would be healthy for boys, girls, and parents!  Once again, the “show, don’t tell” approach to parenting is the powerful way to go.

Here are the panelists with a “milk toast” – we’ve seen lots of MomTini toasts at The Lounge, but this one is rich with Vitamin D & Calcium!

Left to Right: Vivien Godfrey, CEO of MilkPEP, Linda Fears, editor-in-chief of Family Circle, Elizabeth M. Ward, MS, RD, Alanna Levine, MD, Former first daughter Jenna Bush Hager and Jeannette Torres-Alvarez, at the Like Mother Like Daughter: Health Legacy Summit, Wednesday, April 27, 2011, in Washington, D.C.  (Photo – Reprinted with Permission by AP Images).