The Child Is Father

I have a client who just got married. 

He plans to begin having kids in the next couple years and he wants to get lean and healthy with strong forever habits by the time he and his wife become parents.

This is wise for a bunch of reasons but let me take one particular angle for this post.

The Child Is Father

Wordsworth wrote, The Child is father of the Man. 

Maybe he was riffing on spirit or piety, but this quote proves true when it comes to physical health as well.

Growing evidence suggests that people who have strong muscles and bones when they are young maintain these characteristics when they get old. 

This is important because older people with strong muscles and bones tend to maintain a higher quality of life and to live longer.

The same is true for the ability to consume and utilize oxygen during exercise. Older people who breathe more efficiently tend to live longer and with a higher quality of life.

How We Teach Our Kids

Role modeling is the greatest form of teaching that has ever existed, especially when it comes to habits and attitudes.

You can tell someone something a million times to no avail, but if you simply model it for them over and over again, they will emulate.

This is especially true for our children.

They revere us from the moment they first look into our eyes as infants as we smile the deepest smiles of our lives.

So if they see us doing healthy things from the time they are young to the time they leave the nest, the probability that they do healthy things increases a lot.

They will internalize it all over the days and months and years.

This is quite the gift we can give to our children and the beautiful thing is, we never have to keep reminding them.

I recently established The Pearl Institute where I work with professionals who want to get healthy and stay healthy for the rest of their lives. If you are interested, shoot me an email at [email protected].