#4) Be like your mother. Remember when you had to eat all your vegetables? Offer (healthier) desserts after dinner to those that eat their vegetable. You may be in a situation of one child having dessert and the other not, however that's great learning experience for everyone, You get what you earn. Life lesson at the dinner table. And no it's not unfair. Kids understand immediate reward/punishment better than speeches. Keep the talking to a minimum, state the rule then stick to it.

#5) Be firm and be consistent. Kids will push to test your limit. When you decide to implement a healthy habit stick to it. No matter how much a kid cries, whines, or sneaks (and they will). Stay firm that this is the rule. Discuss the rule with you're your spouse so you can have a united front. If your children are use to free range in the kitchen, and eating whatever they want implementing all these tips at once will be to drastic a change for them. Try implementing one rule a week or even every two week. Remember health eating is a process and slow and steady wins the race. Not only will the new "house rules" be a change for your children but it will be a change for you as well, requiring more monitoring and more planning (making healthy snacks and ingredients always available). Mubarakah Ibrahim is an AFAA certified personal trainer and owner of BALANCE fitness, a personal training service for women in CT that offers in-home personal training, on-line personal training, outdoor boot camps, and outdoor adventure club for women. She also lectures, promotes and conducts workshops on health and fitness through out the northeast. She can be contacted by visiting her website www.balanceCT.com or e-mailed at balanceCT@hotmail.com © BALANCE fitness. Article may be reprinted without permission only in it's entirety including author bio and contact information.

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