August 24, 2024 • 31 mins
How do you help your children build healthy habits without taking it too far?
Kim Harvey joins Tim Beveridge on The Weekend Collective to discuss this and more.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from news TALKSB.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
And welcome back to the show. This is the Parents
Squad on news Talks B. This show is the Weekend
Collected by the Way. Just in case you've tuned in
and gone what is this show? Yes, we have six
different hours over two days from three to six, and
this one is the one that focused This hour is
the one that focuses on parenting. And my guest is
actually a new guest and she is from the Young
and Healthy Trust and her name is Kim Harvey and
(00:31):
she's with me now.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Kim, Hello, Hey, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I'm doing all right. We've been having a good old
guess bag about colleagues in Commonham. We are off in really,
why are you here?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Well, I'm a parent and I have a little bit
to do with health and fitness and that sort of thing.
So and I do some stuff with kids in schools
and just helping them get healthy. So that's why I'm here.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I think I think that's that is it. I thought
that that came up much ruder than I than I
meant it to be when I said why are you here?
As if you just walked on the door. But of
course I know why are you here, and the clue yes, possibly, no, no,
And the clue is in the name of the trust
as well, the Young Healthy Trust. But the thing that
you one of the things you do actually tell us
a bit about what the Young and Healthy Trust does.
(01:12):
And we'll get into what we're going to talk about.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yeah, absolutely, So I guess the history is that, you know,
I've come as a kid, come through and kind of
not being that sporting myself, and then got into health
and fitness and just really understood and begun to feel
that how amazing our body and brain is, and it
really got me curious, and it got me learning and
going down that sort of path of understanding what was
going on and why it was important for us to
(01:35):
take care of ourselves and all the amazing work that
our brain and body does and what we can do
to support our well being. So I kind of had
a lifetime of that personal training, and then I got
into corporate wellness, and then I thought maybe I could
work with kids, because I think developing habits at a
young age might actually be a bit easier.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Actually that was a I mean that's a conscious change, then,
isn't it. What was it that made you suddenly go,
you know, from being involved in corporate health and adults
keeping healthy and the chain that you probably because you
said you weren't very sporty. Actually what age did you
get into a fitness then I have to.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Tell you the story because it's kind of cute a neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
You've set my expectations very high.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
There we go, All right, let's go. So when I
was about thirteen, my neighbor was a bit oldish, is
about eighteen, and she took me to a class and
it was a les Mill's fitness class. It was in
the may Road Community Hall in Mount Ross School, which
is where I grew up out that way, and there
was this instructor there. She was doing Jesus size and
her name she had leg warmers and she had the
(02:40):
you know, the leotard things going on, and her name
was Kim, and.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
You were an easy cell like your name is Kim?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I love the leg warmers.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
She was amazing, and it was that combination. It was
the music. It was a dance. As a kid, I
wasn't really I hadn't learned dancing as such, but this
combo was amazing and for me, that was you know,
I think I played a bit of tennis, a bit
of neatball, but for me, that was my thing and
I just loved it and it made me feel great,
and it just started that curiosity about why do I
feel like this when I do this stuff? And you know,
(03:14):
my lifelong journey of learning about science and physiology went
from there.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So you worked for Lismeels, then.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I did for a while. Yeah, actually you're way back.
And I'm not going to say when because I don't
really age me and we're.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Not here to give them a free out or anything.
But you and I were just talking in the and
before we came on here about what it is. An
amazing New Zealand success story. What they do throughout the
world with their workouts fantastic.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
I feel incredibly proud having been involved with it just
in a little ways all that time ago, before it
became what it is now.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Do you still have a pair of leg warmers?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Of course I do. You know. I went to an
eighties party at the power Is at the Powerhouse a
few a few week months ago with some girlfriends and
we were full, we were full leotards, even the skin
flex leotard came out, which wow, was one of those
ones back in the day that I think I was
sponsored by. They're amazing. And the leg warmers, of course,
the Fleurro League womans.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Because they were at the time they were seen as
being something that you probably had to have, and there
was a real reason. But then there must have been
why did they disappear the eighties finished?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah, they became a bit uncle But then we had
the big floppy socks so that they were kind of
like a leg woman and they kind of went part
way up your leg and you wore them with the
right colored shoes and things like that. So yeah, anyway, anyway,
let's get onto it.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
So because obviously that what you're into now is particularly important,
and I hate to sound like we're lecturing people, but
and we're not, because we're here to have fun and
discuss a few ideas about getting kids exercising. But the
problem is is that kids are locked on their devices
so much. And I actually did see something where you
(04:47):
sort of almost use devices to get kids off their devices,
But how does that work?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
How does that work? So you know, really good question.
I think the thing is that technology is here to stay.
And so what we wanted to do was find a
way that we could use a little bit of technology
to create some good in the world. So what we
wanted to do. What we do is we use it
in a fun way. So when people or when the
kids interact with the online portal, they do it for
(05:12):
maybe a minute or two a day. It's not you know,
it's really very low engagement. But what we do is
we use that platform to create.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
So what's an example that first minute or two, what's that?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Ah, So what they'll do is they might be they
might be active in the day, they might drink some water,
they might have some freat and veggies. And what they
do is they'll log in and they'll put they'll they'll
mark down that they've done those things, and they earn
little points and it takes them on this global adventure
and they'll see a little animated video of they create
an avatar. So again, something that they do, it's something
that they do now in other ways. So they create
(05:45):
their own little avatar and they see it in this
little video. They might visit Peru, or they might visit
Turkey or somewhere like that, and they get a little
a few tips We've got these wonderful Essex Ambassadors Artie Savia,
Meliani Canacio and Kane Williamson, and we animate them. They're
wonderful and we animate them and they sort of talk
to the children, if you like. They interact with the
kids and they talk to them a little bit about
(06:07):
you know, these some of these little habits and why
they're important, whether you play sport or just for everyday life.
It's almost so it creates that fun and engagement.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Is it? Is it?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Also it's just acknowledge as the reality. There's one thing
to say, put down that bloody phone. You'll put down
that device. But the reality is that technology is an
intrinsic part of everyone's lives. When my kids see me
instead of Dad sitting on the couch reading the paper,
Dad's sitting reading the New Zealand Hero website, and they're like,
(06:35):
our dad's on his phone.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
But they're not distinguishing between what you're doing on your phone,
are they? I could have the paper in front of me.
I know I do the same because I work. You
know a lot of my work I do sitting on
my phone. And they say, Mom, you're on your phone.
You tell us to get off, and I'm like, you're right, Actually,
it doesn't matter what I'm actually doing. It's just about
you know, so many ways to put it down.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
How do these so how do you get kids onto
this particular? Is it an app or what are we
talking about here?
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Well, what we do is we run this program in school.
So we've got about twenty thousand children a year that
do this program, and thanks to Zespree, we are able
to give that to the schools for free. We run
it over five weeks and we really just focusing on
getting the kids to think about what their amazing brain
and body does. So every second that we're sitting here,
our amazing brain and body is doing a billion different
(07:23):
things for us. Right now, it's doing a whole bunch
of work that we don't even have to think about.
But there are things that we can consciously choose to
do that will help it to do all that work.
And that is things like getting a good night's sleep,
you know, putting our devices down and getting outside or
doing something different. It's moving our bodies. However we do that.
We might dance, we might skip, we might run around,
(07:43):
we might play tag, we might play You know, there
are so many different ways of doing it, eating fruit
and veggie's drinking a bit of water. So we're just
getting them to think about what is it that I
can do that I can choose to do as a kid.
You know, I'm There's some things I can't choose, but
there are things that I can do that are going
to help my amazing brain and body to do all
that work. So we kind of thinking them to just
(08:05):
think about it in those terms.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
What changes? What results have you seen through this program
in terms of people's kids, I mean what age group
are we talking about?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Any primary so anywhere from sort of five up to
about twelve. Oh, just really cool things like for example,
a parent sent me a photo of her son the
other day and she said, oh, look, normally he would
use his device before bed, and we've been doing a
little bit particularly around devices and you know what to do,
And she said, so he's asked us to play cards instead.
(08:35):
So as a family, we're sitting down, we're playing cards
at night, putting the devices down. And she sent me
a photo of him, And I mean that in itself
can be life changing, because if you have better night's
sleep because you're not on your device before you go
to sleep. Then that has such a ripple effect through
the next day. You wake up, you feel better, You
make good choices about food, you don't, you have a
(08:55):
good mood, You can learn and you can retain new information.
You oh so many things. You don't feel so stressed.
So you know this whole rise of anxiety. If we're
not sleeping, well, we feel more anxious naturally because our
quartersol levels and our body at homeworne and our body
are much higher to help keep us awake when we
actually really want to be asleep. So you know, the simple,
(09:16):
simple steps we can take that have such a massive
impact when especially when done consistently. So that's just one thing.
I had a teacher messaged me last year and she said,
I've got these kids who particularly boys who come into
my class really tired at night, sorry, tired the next
morning because they're staying up at night gaming. But they
realize because we're kind of tracking this stuff, they're putting
the games away and they're getting a better night's sleep,
(09:38):
and they're coming to class the next day and they're learning,
they're focused, their moods are better, they're interacting with better
people better. I mean, that's nice.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
What if they're on their device, what do you mean
that we're tracking this stuff? So they know that if
they're up late doing something, they just know that.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
They're think, No, we're not checked.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That's true.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
That No, I'm sorry, No, no, they are. They're kind
of what we're doing is we're going let us, you know,
have a think about how long you slept last night,
have a think about how much time you spent on
your device yesterday in your leisure time, and you know
when you put that down. So it's just a it's
just for them to kind of do this kind of
almost check in with themselves and go, what have I
(10:16):
been doing today? What do I need to do? Or
you know, if I need to sleep more, then maybe
I need to stop doing that sooner. And so it's
just kind of getting them to think about it themselves
so that they can take action themselves, which means that
we're not having to be so hard on you know
what I mean. It's just if they start making those
decisions themselves, they're so much better served they will do it.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Is that the biggest thing is just getting people to
start that journey. That's the most important thing. Is just
we just want you to start, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah, absolutely, just do a little bit of something, a
little bit of something, take a small step.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I mean, what would your advice for parents? Would your
advice to parents be? And look, so many parents, it's
an ongoing battle, and funny enough, I should tell this.
I'm not sure if I should tell this, but friends
of ours where we met when we were on holiday,
we caught up with them in the same town. They
were talking about how they make their kids leave their
phones at home for the holiday, which we were like, wow,
that sounds radical. But the other thing is that they,
(11:15):
in fact, one of our daughters has borne the brunt
of this is that if you transgress in a couple
of things, your phone's gone for a week, which to
me felt like a nuclear form of punishment. You know what.
She accepted the punishment almost while she hurt. I think
she felt it was coming. But actually I don't think
it's been the worst week of her life to get
off that device. But without doing something for parents who
(11:39):
are listening, so many parents, we don't intend our kids
to be on their phone. They're so sneaky. And I've
found out how we can be. It's easy to be
self rightous and say God, I'm going to tell them
to get off the phone, but they can. They just
becomes a yard, becomes a mile. What are the what's
in a suggestion for parents who are bit worried about
(12:01):
they've let that device you go too far?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
I know because I'm one of them.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You know, I cannot imagining that your kids are just
rocking on doing all the tasks. So it happen.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Oh my goodness. No, we're just the same, you know.
It's the same battles every day that we all have
to a greater or lesser extent. So I think one
of the big things is modeling the behavior. So you know,
we talked earlier about putting our phones down ourselves and
even if we're reading a book on our phone, don't
get a real book or something really, you know, so
I can first of all, I think the modeling the
behavior is really important because, let's face it, I don't
(12:33):
know if you would agree with this, but they don't
listen to what we say. They watch what we do,
and that's what they you know, very much, there's a
modeling that goes on. I think that it's definitely about having,
you know, put those back those boundaries in place and look,
you know, I'm the first to say I'm not great
at it. And it doesn't work one hundred percent in
my house either, So not perfect by any stretch. So
(12:55):
is put I have a time in the day we
try to say when we have dinner, So seven o'clock,
that's it. You've put if we all put our devices
away and we either sit down at dinner and we
play cards, or we watch a movie or you know,
watch a bit of something that we've got the different
series that we'd like to watch on TV together. So
we try to do that. And they're twelve and fourteen,
so they still kind of, you know, want to hang around,
(13:16):
want to hang around us.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
So that's good.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Yeah, that's nice.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
They must be, because I think there's some parents of
twelve or fourteen year olds who are probably thinking, lucky you.
I wonder what that age is when they go, oh,
mom and dad, they're not calling you alone. R.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I don't know. I'm hoping it's a lot longer. But yeah,
it's just putting some boundaries.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Okay, Actually, we've got a couple of questions if you've
if you want to pick our brain, it's not my brain, really,
Kim Harvey about getting your child more active, establishing some
healthy habits. But also if you want to be mayor
culper and confess a few things, what are the advice?
What are the examples you're setting that you think, oh,
maybe I'm not setting the example in the right way.
So how are you using your old your example to
(13:56):
set your kids up for a healthy life? Give us
a call, oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty, or
even where you went if you've gone wrong, you think
there's some your mistakes you can share with us so
we don't follow down the same path, of course, which
we will because many of us are all the same.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Oops.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Hang on a second. We'll be back in just a moment.
It is twenty one past five news Talk, said B
and welcome back to the weekend Collective. This is the
Parents Squad. We have a new guest on the show.
She's from the Young and Healthy Trust, and her name
is Kim Harvey. Talking about and she's sort of well,
if anyone specializes, and I don't want to narrow down
the specialty too much, Kim, but you are about trying
to build healthy habits and children without without suddenly sort
(14:33):
of lecturing them. And I mean, what is the what
is in your view, the most effective way to get
kids make the changes that you want them to make.
Because parents, you sort of feel if you have kids
needs to make a change, you must be a sense
of guilt around it. But anyway, you don't want to
suddenly start lecturing them about things because that doesn't work.
What are the enticements that make kids make subtle changes
(14:55):
for themselves? Do you think?
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Well? I think I think it's definitely about, like I
said earlier, modeling the behavior. So I think if we're
going to try to get our kids to do anything,
we need to do it to so we do it
as a family, so it's not focusing on one person
in particular. And let's face it, you know, we can
probably all do with you know, having a better night sleep,
you know, putting our devices down, drinking a bit more water,
(15:17):
being a bit more active, those kinds of things. So
I think if we're doing it together, it makes a
big difference. We talk in our family a lot about balance,
so it's about going you know, there's no bad anything,
there's just we do more of this than we do
of that. But we do do this. Let's say, you know,
sugar retreats or ice cream or chocolate or whatever it
might be. We have that, but we balance it by,
(15:39):
you know, more of the time we'll eat these other
things instead, because we know for our amazing brain and
body to do all its work, it really needs that
stuff more than it needs that stuff, you know. So
it's never it's never about lecturing, and it's never about
telling anybody off for doing something. And just really interestingly,
I don't know how it worked, but my daughter ranked
me this morning and she said, Mum, I'm going taking
(16:01):
the dog for a walk and I've got some pocket money.
I'd really like to go to the shop and get
some would that be all right? And I said, why
don't you think about what you've already had today and
then you decide, And she she'd had a tot chocolate,
she'd made a hot chocolate at home this morning, and
she's like, oh, yeah, okay, and then she made that choice.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
But you know that's on you because she was ready
for that response from you, because there'll be some parents
if they tried that line and be like, oh here
comes mum telling me.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Yes, yeah, look I've done that, you know, to be fair,
I've done that. So this has taken time, and it's
learning on we're parents. We're learning as we go as well,
aren't we. So you know it's taken time. But I
realized that, you know, I don't like being lectured to,
so why would a child like to be lectured too?
And we want it? We all want to make our
own decisions, don't we. So it's sort of finding that pathway.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
You've established that also though, that tells me that you
have established a relationship with your child where they want
your input as well. You know, I mean that takes
a lot of work, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Probably look being a parent, there's a lot of work,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
We all, And I'm trying to find a way of
you know, that's the best way I can think of
to describe it is that she must know that that
you are going to give her not too hard a
hit on it, but you're going to be, like you
heard Jiminy Cricket, Yeah, in a way, her conscience in
a way. That's what kids are looking for from their
(17:25):
parents sometime, aren't they.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Yeah, And I think that's the thing. It's like we
you know, we we do talk about the stuff at
home obviously because of what I do. But you know
it's I think that lecturing. You know, when I had
adult clients, I didn't lecture them because that wasn't the
way to get them to change. It's a terrible word lecturing, No,
I know, but I know what you mean because some
of our health promotion can be very much like that,
(17:47):
and you know you feel it. You feel it, and
you're like, I don't want to get your hackles up,
don't you. So it's all about helping people find the
ways to and just understand again that what we do
is we're trying to help our amazing brain and body
to do all the work that it does for us.
And we need to just make you know, if we
can make choices on the basis rather than this is
bad for me, I shouldn't eat this, This is you know,
(18:09):
all of those kind of negative thoughts. If you think
about it positively, then it also gives you a difference
sort of angle on it.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
So for for parents who sort of think we're not
going to we're not catastrophing catastrophied in here, because look,
I think most parents do a great job and work
really hard, but you know they will have moments when
they think I've really let this one slip and my
daughter's eating or my son's eating too much bad food.
How would you how would you suggest to parents that,
(18:36):
you know, because you can't suddenly bring in the sleeve hummer, Right,
that's it, We're not having any more fish and chips
on Friday night, junk food's band and all that sort
of thing. What is the best way to eke out
a change in habits for your family and your children?
Do you think? How would you go? What would you
suggest to parents? Are like, oh gosh, we've got such
bad eating habits, and you know, I mean because you
can't go cold turkey, can you know?
Speaker 3 (18:56):
I think that exactly right. I think that's the key
is just little changes. You know, little changes done consistently
can make a massive difference. So you know, it might
that you just don't buy some of the things that
you that you used to maybe so there's less access
to I know, if I've got chocolate or chippies at home,
guess where they're going to go. You know, I'm going
to eat them, So I know myself, you know what,
(19:19):
I'm the boundaries for myself. So it's maybe just buy
less of them, you know, like we bake cookies at
home now because we can just put less sugar in them,
that's all. But we still have cookies, so we're not
taking away stuff. We're just trying to just trying to
moderate in one step at a time and definitely avoid
the talk about this is bad, we shouldn't have this,
(19:40):
we can't have this, we're going to get rid of this.
I think you've just got to go, you know, one
step at a time and take it really simple and
just do that consistently. So add in a vegy to
you know, to a meal, try lots of different things
as well, and get them involved.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
It's around a fistable thing. Yeah, my wife, I mean
I don't really, she doesn't like me to share her
secrets or whatever necessarily. But or but the hiding the
vegetables and things, I'm not sure if I'm not sure.
I'm big on the hiding because some some parents do
they oh, this is I've chopped this so small they
won't even notice I've stuck this. I'd rather go. I'd
(20:18):
rather them know rather than them thinking that because when
they're I don't know, if I'm not sure where I'm
at with the hiding the healthy food.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I guess you just got to try it. Like I'll
tell you. My mum makes the most amazing speedy bolonnaise,
and she creates that be true, and she creates her
corgete and carrot, and and then she makes this amazing
sauce and my son, who's the pickiest eat it. Sorry
Dane on the planet. He he loves it.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
He to be fair, carrot is an important part of
a bonton, as if it's part of the initial preparation.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
But really, so she hides loads of edges in there
is what I'm saying. So I guess you've just got it.
It's that thing with being a parent.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Eventually it's like, really, you say, you don't know that
you've been eating it for the past six months, and
they go, what traitor?
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Didn't taste so bad?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
So we're talking about how do you gradually change your
kids to developing a few more healthy habits and forget
about whether it's your fault or not. How do you
do it?
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Wait, hundredady t Nadie, let's go to call Rachel.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Hello, Hello there, Hi, Hi.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
I'm a I'm a dietician and I specialize in supporting
children to have a positive relationship with food in their bodies,
looking at a body image, but also like fussy eaters
and how we manage fussy eaters. So I just thought
I thought it was an interesting conversation.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Did you have any advice for how do we do this?
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Rachel?
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Yeah, I suppose there's a couple of things. And I
loved your idea of kind of talking about that we
don't talk about bad food, foods and good food. And actually,
the research shows is that children don't really understand the
nuance of kind of the ideas of balance and moderation
until they're significantly older, well into their teenage years. And
if we really want to raise healthy eaters, our best
(22:08):
approach is to role model eating a wide range of
foods ourselves, not talking negatively about any food. We talk
the food's just food, chocolates, chocolates and apples and apple,
and we don't talk about things in even in saying
these are better for us, or these are healthier or
more nutritious. And if we really one of the things
that's really interesting about children's relationship with sugar, the more
(22:31):
we restrict them from having those foods, the more they're
going to want us and the more they're going to
want to eat them to access when they when they
do get access to us, So we need to have
a relatively balanced approach that we still keep foods as
part of our routine. So we might have chocolate sometimes
and it's just there. We have it a couple of
times a week, it's it's part of our normal day.
(22:52):
And then there's other times where we need to allow
children to have unlimited access to some of these food
so that they can actually learn how to self regulate
when they do come into contact with them.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
If that makes sense, what do you show a whole
lot of muffins and pats cakes in front of them
and side, Well, today is the day, get into it.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
So one of the things that i'd recommend doing that
is doing that occasionally, say maybe once every two weeks
or so, but it's done at snack time, so it's
not a time that's going to interfere with the main
meals that have been eaten in the day. So it
might be at snack time there the whole packet of
biscuits is down on the table, but there's also carrots
and hummus, or there's a glass of milk, or there's
(23:29):
some yogurt, and there's a balance of a wide range
of food because what actually that happened is that takes
those sweet foods off the pedestal. And we know from
a psychological effect that if you say to a child
or if you if you eat your broccoli, I'll give
you some chocolate cake, you're reinforcing the idea that broccoli
is not very nice because you're saying, well, I'll give
(23:50):
you the nice thing afterwards. So I actually recommend serving
the chocolate cake at dinner with your lavagna, and your
child to eat it whenever they like. In relation to.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
The Wow, that's so.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Crazy when they think of that, what.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
About what about? Some of the asked me, what about
on a text? Isn't the whole point is that kids
can't self regulate, isn't. So how does the parent balance
the job of helping them self reguide? Is that that
you're saying that that will help put the broccoli next
to the character.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
It's exactly the process that helps with self regulation.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
We've got.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
There's there's some really interesting research in the States and
they took groups of kids aged between five to seven
years of age, and they had kids that came from
households where they didn't get access to these foods very often,
and they had kids where they had regular access to
the food in a balanced sort of approach, and then
they put them in a party situation where they just
had free for all, and what they found was the
(24:45):
kids that didn't really get that much access actually ate
what they called in the study in excess of what
they were homebrew first, so they ended up overeating. And
I think the really important thing about that study is
that it reported that kids had shame and guilt after eating.
And these are six year olds and seven year olds
saying that they felt bad that they ate too much.
And actually, we know if we restricted, they're much more
(25:06):
likely to eat more. We need to allow them to
learn how to regulate, and they'll make mistakes.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
And I guess I'll get the feeling of that, and
then when they feel that exactly, yeah, gotcha, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
If we limit, sorry you.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
And stop them from experiencing it, they may not get
that learning experience from going, Oh what does it feel like?
If I oh my Easter candy in one go and
have a load of pop to finish it, then I
feel if it's stick afterward, and maybe I might not
do that again next time.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Absolutely, actually, Rachel. So if I was, you know, and
we taken what you've said and distill it down to me,
what I'm what I'm walking away is is that one
of the faults we make is we designate stuff as
real treat food. So it's you make it the stuff
that the kids always want, whereas if you're saying, you're
saying you just provide a balanced sort of thing, and
(25:55):
so they don't see it as the holy grail that
I'm going to be happy if I can have five
kilos of chocolate.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Most exactly exactly, And we obviously won't serve it all
the time because we need to have a balance of
foods and we decide what goes on the table as parents,
we decide when we serve as and where, but we
don't if we've restricted a limit it and if we
use negative words around it, it can end up really
damaging relationship with food and lead to a lot of
(26:24):
eating disorders or disordered eating, which we know is on
the rise and globally as well as naturally.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Yeah. Good, So, hey, thanks for your col Rach. I'll
really appreciate it. You're welcome all right, Actually can my
daughter who does you know one of my daughters. I
don't say which one. They never like me to identify them.
To be fair, I think kids will like pancakes and things.
And the problem I'm got was when I make pancakes
for them, I do make some pretty nice pancakes, and
I have the sugar guilt that I'm like, oh, I
(26:52):
know how much goes into these, but anyway, it's a treat.
But she's recently just said dead, I'm going to limit
my sugar intake to such and such. I can't mean
what it was. And she did the that I have
to give the credit to school because she's doing humanities
and health and things like that, and they're studying about
things and it's and whether it's part of just the
(27:13):
normal learning, and she's looking at going, oh, I can
see that it's okay to have a bit of this,
but I'm probably having too much. And the education side,
which as soon as I say education, people are going
only lecturing again, but no simple information, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Yeah? And also the way they educate is in a
fun you know, there's there's a lot of different ways
that this information is given across as well. It's not
just a lecture. Yeah, so yeah, I know there's some
amazing stuff going on in schools with helping kids understand
this and the impact and then, as Rachel said, you know,
they feel it and then they experience it. And I
think that's the thing about learning, isn't it. We often
(27:48):
have to experience something in order to learn.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
So what do you do? I mean, actually, I'm just
trying to think how I'm going to How am I
going to deal with pancake day? Well, they just have
to just do it.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
That's like putting a whole chocolate cake on the table
with the broccoli, like Rachel just said.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
So, yeah, there's a text here where I'll just read
what it says. I'm pretty much sure it probably means
my mom. Okay, my mom force fed me till I vomited.
I'm I would hope that that's not quite what you meant.
Maybe your mom just gave you as much sweet stuff
as you wanted till you were sick. I did learn
that lesson over alcohol, to be honest.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Yeah, well that's right. There are lots of parallels, aren't there,
in different different habits that we acquire over our lifetime.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Mike says as a kid, there were some vegetables I
didn't like, but I watched adults enjoying them, and I
forced myself to eventually eat them and enjoy them so
I could be an adult. The funny thing is, that's
why I cut out. That's how I cut out sugar
and tea. Yeah, because I always used to have sugar
in tea when I was a teenager or whatever. Yeah,
And when I went to university, I noticed that my
(28:50):
mom never did. And I thought, I'm eight This is
how silly. This is how silly, I said, I'm eighteen now. Yeah,
And to be honest, I can't be bothered going to
get the sugar. Maybe I'll just be a growing up
and not have it. But that was me. Was that
conven Well, I think, but it was also, isn't it.
It's a silly little story, I know, I know, but
it is one of those things. I thought that that's
what help. Now when you're at you don't need to
(29:12):
I don't need the sugar so much. And after a
couple of cups of tea, I was done. And I
look at people now of sugar, It's like, what are
you even that for? I've got a producer out there
suddenly give me a very guilty book. So what I
mean before we wrap it up, just in a simple
way of distilling it if if parents are concerned that
it doesn't mean matter whether you feel you've you know,
(29:34):
set your kids up with a bad example, what's the
simplest way to make a small change or two? Do
you think? Oh, that's like that's a tricky question, isn't it.
That's a tough one to end with.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Well, I think I use can I use being active
as an example?
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Sure, I think that. You know, there are so so,
so so many benefits to being to moving our bodies,
and as I mentioned before, there are so many different
ways of doing that. So I think that as a family,
something really awesome to be able to do is just
take a walk together. You know, it might be after dinner,
you might have a little walk, might just be up
the drive to start with. Everyone might complain about it,
(30:07):
but you do it and you actually find that you
chat to each other, you find you put your devices down,
you you'll probably sleep a little bit better, all of
those sorts of things. So sometimes just taking that first
step is the hardest one. But just decide that you're
going to do something, and it might be that you say,
we're just going to have a dance in the in
the lounge. We're gonna turn some music on and we
have a dance.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Dad, do not do not move, but just.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Do it for a few minutes and then build on it,
build on it. So I say, start small, whatever it
is you're trying to do, start small and just build
and get everyone's you know, maybe not buy in, but
get their suggestions on what they'd like to do. And
like the little boy at home putting his device down,
I want to play cards with the family. So they
picked up the cards and the way they went and
that's what they That's what they're doing in the evenings
(30:53):
now before bed.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Fantastic. So people want to check out the work you do.
Of course you are the founder of the Young and
Healthy Trust. Is there any where they can go and
just check out some more more of the what come
Harvey is a yep.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Absolutely, So if they go to Young and Healthy dot
org dot nz they'll see more about the check and
challenge and the programs that I.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Do Young and Healthy dot org dot nz. HI lovely
to meet, sure and hopeful we'll get you back and Kim,
thanks so much for your time. Save No, thank you.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
It's been awesome, excellent.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
We'll be back to rap sport in just a mo.
It is eighteen minutes to six. News Talk SEDB.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
For more from the weekend collective, listen live to News
Talks EDB weekends from three pm, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from news TALKSB.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
And welcome back to the show. This is the Parents
Squad on news Talks B. This show is the Weekend
Collected by the Way. Just in case you've tuned in
and gone what is this show? Yes, we have six
different hours over two days from three to six, and
this one is the one that focused This hour is
the one that focuses on parenting. And my guest is
actually a new guest and she is from the Young
and Healthy Trust and her name is Kim Harvey and
(00:31):
she's with me now.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Kim, Hello, Hey, how you doing.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I'm doing all right. We've been having a good old
guess bag about colleagues in Commonham. We are off in really,
why are you here?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Well, I'm a parent and I have a little bit
to do with health and fitness and that sort of thing.
So and I do some stuff with kids in schools
and just helping them get healthy. So that's why I'm here.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I think I think that's that is it. I thought
that that came up much ruder than I than I
meant it to be when I said why are you here?
As if you just walked on the door. But of
course I know why are you here, and the clue yes, possibly, no, no,
And the clue is in the name of the trust
as well, the Young Healthy Trust. But the thing that
you one of the things you do actually tell us
a bit about what the Young and Healthy Trust does.
(01:12):
And we'll get into what we're going to talk about.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yeah, absolutely, So I guess the history is that, you know,
I've come as a kid, come through and kind of
not being that sporting myself, and then got into health
and fitness and just really understood and begun to feel
that how amazing our body and brain is, and it
really got me curious, and it got me learning and
going down that sort of path of understanding what was
going on and why it was important for us to
(01:35):
take care of ourselves and all the amazing work that
our brain and body does and what we can do
to support our well being. So I kind of had
a lifetime of that personal training, and then I got
into corporate wellness, and then I thought maybe I could
work with kids, because I think developing habits at a
young age might actually be a bit easier.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Actually that was a I mean that's a conscious change, then,
isn't it. What was it that made you suddenly go,
you know, from being involved in corporate health and adults
keeping healthy and the chain that you probably because you
said you weren't very sporty. Actually what age did you
get into a fitness then I have to.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Tell you the story because it's kind of cute a neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
You've set my expectations very high.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
There we go, All right, let's go. So when I
was about thirteen, my neighbor was a bit oldish, is
about eighteen, and she took me to a class and
it was a les Mill's fitness class. It was in
the may Road Community Hall in Mount Ross School, which
is where I grew up out that way, and there
was this instructor there. She was doing Jesus size and
her name she had leg warmers and she had the
(02:40):
you know, the leotard things going on, and her name
was Kim, and.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
You were an easy cell like your name is Kim?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Wow?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
I love the leg warmers.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
She was amazing, and it was that combination. It was
the music. It was a dance. As a kid, I
wasn't really I hadn't learned dancing as such, but this
combo was amazing and for me, that was you know,
I think I played a bit of tennis, a bit
of neatball, but for me, that was my thing and
I just loved it and it made me feel great,
and it just started that curiosity about why do I
feel like this when I do this stuff? And you know,
(03:14):
my lifelong journey of learning about science and physiology went
from there.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So you worked for Lismeels, then.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I did for a while. Yeah, actually you're way back.
And I'm not going to say when because I don't
really age me and we're.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Not here to give them a free out or anything.
But you and I were just talking in the and
before we came on here about what it is. An
amazing New Zealand success story. What they do throughout the
world with their workouts fantastic.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
I feel incredibly proud having been involved with it just
in a little ways all that time ago, before it
became what it is now.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Do you still have a pair of leg warmers?
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Of course I do. You know. I went to an
eighties party at the power Is at the Powerhouse a
few a few week months ago with some girlfriends and
we were full, we were full leotards, even the skin
flex leotard came out, which wow, was one of those
ones back in the day that I think I was
sponsored by. They're amazing. And the leg warmers, of course,
the Fleurro League womans.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Because they were at the time they were seen as
being something that you probably had to have, and there
was a real reason. But then there must have been
why did they disappear the eighties finished?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah, they became a bit uncle But then we had
the big floppy socks so that they were kind of
like a leg woman and they kind of went part
way up your leg and you wore them with the
right colored shoes and things like that. So yeah, anyway, anyway,
let's get onto it.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
So because obviously that what you're into now is particularly important,
and I hate to sound like we're lecturing people, but
and we're not, because we're here to have fun and
discuss a few ideas about getting kids exercising. But the
problem is is that kids are locked on their devices
so much. And I actually did see something where you
(04:47):
sort of almost use devices to get kids off their devices,
But how does that work?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
How does that work? So you know, really good question.
I think the thing is that technology is here to stay.
And so what we wanted to do was find a
way that we could use a little bit of technology
to create some good in the world. So what we
wanted to do. What we do is we use it
in a fun way. So when people or when the
kids interact with the online portal, they do it for
(05:12):
maybe a minute or two a day. It's not you know,
it's really very low engagement. But what we do is
we use that platform to create.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
So what's an example that first minute or two, what's that?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Ah, So what they'll do is they might be they
might be active in the day, they might drink some water,
they might have some freat and veggies. And what they
do is they'll log in and they'll put they'll they'll
mark down that they've done those things, and they earn
little points and it takes them on this global adventure
and they'll see a little animated video of they create
an avatar. So again, something that they do, it's something
that they do now in other ways. So they create
(05:45):
their own little avatar and they see it in this
little video. They might visit Peru, or they might visit
Turkey or somewhere like that, and they get a little
a few tips We've got these wonderful Essex Ambassadors Artie Savia,
Meliani Canacio and Kane Williamson, and we animate them. They're
wonderful and we animate them and they sort of talk
to the children, if you like. They interact with the
kids and they talk to them a little bit about
(06:07):
you know, these some of these little habits and why
they're important, whether you play sport or just for everyday life.
It's almost so it creates that fun and engagement.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Is it? Is it?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Also it's just acknowledge as the reality. There's one thing
to say, put down that bloody phone. You'll put down
that device. But the reality is that technology is an
intrinsic part of everyone's lives. When my kids see me
instead of Dad sitting on the couch reading the paper,
Dad's sitting reading the New Zealand Hero website, and they're like,
(06:35):
our dad's on his phone.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
But they're not distinguishing between what you're doing on your phone,
are they? I could have the paper in front of me.
I know I do the same because I work. You
know a lot of my work I do sitting on
my phone. And they say, Mom, you're on your phone.
You tell us to get off, and I'm like, you're right, Actually,
it doesn't matter what I'm actually doing. It's just about
you know, so many ways to put it down.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
How do these so how do you get kids onto
this particular? Is it an app or what are we
talking about here?
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Well, what we do is we run this program in school.
So we've got about twenty thousand children a year that
do this program, and thanks to Zespree, we are able
to give that to the schools for free. We run
it over five weeks and we really just focusing on
getting the kids to think about what their amazing brain
and body does. So every second that we're sitting here,
our amazing brain and body is doing a billion different
(07:23):
things for us. Right now, it's doing a whole bunch
of work that we don't even have to think about.
But there are things that we can consciously choose to
do that will help it to do all that work.
And that is things like getting a good night's sleep,
you know, putting our devices down and getting outside or
doing something different. It's moving our bodies. However we do that.
We might dance, we might skip, we might run around,
(07:43):
we might play tag, we might play You know, there
are so many different ways of doing it, eating fruit
and veggie's drinking a bit of water. So we're just
getting them to think about what is it that I
can do that I can choose to do as a kid.
You know, I'm There's some things I can't choose, but
there are things that I can do that are going
to help my amazing brain and body to do all
that work. So we kind of thinking them to just
(08:05):
think about it in those terms.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
What changes? What results have you seen through this program
in terms of people's kids, I mean what age group
are we talking about?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Any primary so anywhere from sort of five up to
about twelve. Oh, just really cool things like for example,
a parent sent me a photo of her son the
other day and she said, oh, look, normally he would
use his device before bed, and we've been doing a
little bit particularly around devices and you know what to do,
And she said, so he's asked us to play cards instead.
(08:35):
So as a family, we're sitting down, we're playing cards
at night, putting the devices down. And she sent me
a photo of him, And I mean that in itself
can be life changing, because if you have better night's
sleep because you're not on your device before you go
to sleep. Then that has such a ripple effect through
the next day. You wake up, you feel better, You
make good choices about food, you don't, you have a
(08:55):
good mood, You can learn and you can retain new information.
You oh so many things. You don't feel so stressed.
So you know this whole rise of anxiety. If we're
not sleeping, well, we feel more anxious naturally because our
quartersol levels and our body at homeworne and our body
are much higher to help keep us awake when we
actually really want to be asleep. So you know, the simple,
(09:16):
simple steps we can take that have such a massive
impact when especially when done consistently. So that's just one thing.
I had a teacher messaged me last year and she said,
I've got these kids who particularly boys who come into
my class really tired at night, sorry, tired the next
morning because they're staying up at night gaming. But they
realize because we're kind of tracking this stuff, they're putting
the games away and they're getting a better night's sleep,
(09:38):
and they're coming to class the next day and they're learning,
they're focused, their moods are better, they're interacting with better
people better. I mean, that's nice.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
What if they're on their device, what do you mean
that we're tracking this stuff? So they know that if
they're up late doing something, they just know that.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
They're think, No, we're not checked.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
That's true.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
That No, I'm sorry, No, no, they are. They're kind
of what we're doing is we're going let us, you know,
have a think about how long you slept last night,
have a think about how much time you spent on
your device yesterday in your leisure time, and you know
when you put that down. So it's just a it's
just for them to kind of do this kind of
almost check in with themselves and go, what have I
(10:16):
been doing today? What do I need to do? Or
you know, if I need to sleep more, then maybe
I need to stop doing that sooner. And so it's
just kind of getting them to think about it themselves
so that they can take action themselves, which means that
we're not having to be so hard on you know
what I mean. It's just if they start making those
decisions themselves, they're so much better served they will do it.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
Is that the biggest thing is just getting people to
start that journey. That's the most important thing. Is just
we just want you to start, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah, absolutely, just do a little bit of something, a
little bit of something, take a small step.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I mean, what would your advice for parents? Would your
advice to parents be? And look, so many parents, it's
an ongoing battle, and funny enough, I should tell this.
I'm not sure if I should tell this, but friends
of ours where we met when we were on holiday,
we caught up with them in the same town. They
were talking about how they make their kids leave their
phones at home for the holiday, which we were like, wow,
that sounds radical. But the other thing is that they,
(11:15):
in fact, one of our daughters has borne the brunt
of this is that if you transgress in a couple
of things, your phone's gone for a week, which to
me felt like a nuclear form of punishment. You know what.
She accepted the punishment almost while she hurt. I think
she felt it was coming. But actually I don't think
it's been the worst week of her life to get
off that device. But without doing something for parents who
(11:39):
are listening, so many parents, we don't intend our kids
to be on their phone. They're so sneaky. And I've
found out how we can be. It's easy to be
self rightous and say God, I'm going to tell them
to get off the phone, but they can. They just
becomes a yard, becomes a mile. What are the what's
in a suggestion for parents who are bit worried about
(12:01):
they've let that device you go too far?
Speaker 3 (12:05):
I know because I'm one of them.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You know, I cannot imagining that your kids are just
rocking on doing all the tasks. So it happen.
Speaker 3 (12:10):
Oh my goodness. No, we're just the same, you know.
It's the same battles every day that we all have
to a greater or lesser extent. So I think one
of the big things is modeling the behavior. So you know,
we talked earlier about putting our phones down ourselves and
even if we're reading a book on our phone, don't
get a real book or something really, you know, so
I can first of all, I think the modeling the
behavior is really important because, let's face it, I don't
(12:33):
know if you would agree with this, but they don't
listen to what we say. They watch what we do,
and that's what they you know, very much, there's a
modeling that goes on. I think that it's definitely about having,
you know, put those back those boundaries in place and look,
you know, I'm the first to say I'm not great
at it. And it doesn't work one hundred percent in
my house either, So not perfect by any stretch. So
(12:55):
is put I have a time in the day we
try to say when we have dinner, So seven o'clock,
that's it. You've put if we all put our devices
away and we either sit down at dinner and we
play cards, or we watch a movie or you know,
watch a bit of something that we've got the different
series that we'd like to watch on TV together. So
we try to do that. And they're twelve and fourteen,
so they still kind of, you know, want to hang around,
(13:16):
want to hang around us.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
So that's good.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Yeah, that's nice.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
They must be, because I think there's some parents of
twelve or fourteen year olds who are probably thinking, lucky you.
I wonder what that age is when they go, oh,
mom and dad, they're not calling you alone. R.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I don't know. I'm hoping it's a lot longer. But yeah,
it's just putting some boundaries.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Okay, Actually, we've got a couple of questions if you've
if you want to pick our brain, it's not my brain, really,
Kim Harvey about getting your child more active, establishing some
healthy habits. But also if you want to be mayor
culper and confess a few things, what are the advice?
What are the examples you're setting that you think, oh,
maybe I'm not setting the example in the right way.
So how are you using your old your example to
(13:56):
set your kids up for a healthy life? Give us
a call, oh eight hundred and eighty ten eighty, or
even where you went if you've gone wrong, you think
there's some your mistakes you can share with us so
we don't follow down the same path, of course, which
we will because many of us are all the same.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
Oops.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Hang on a second. We'll be back in just a moment.
It is twenty one past five news Talk, said B
and welcome back to the weekend Collective. This is the
Parents Squad. We have a new guest on the show.
She's from the Young and Healthy Trust, and her name
is Kim Harvey. Talking about and she's sort of well,
if anyone specializes, and I don't want to narrow down
the specialty too much, Kim, but you are about trying
to build healthy habits and children without without suddenly sort
(14:33):
of lecturing them. And I mean, what is the what
is in your view, the most effective way to get
kids make the changes that you want them to make.
Because parents, you sort of feel if you have kids
needs to make a change, you must be a sense
of guilt around it. But anyway, you don't want to
suddenly start lecturing them about things because that doesn't work.
What are the enticements that make kids make subtle changes
(14:55):
for themselves? Do you think?
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Well? I think I think it's definitely about, like I
said earlier, modeling the behavior. So I think if we're
going to try to get our kids to do anything,
we need to do it to so we do it
as a family, so it's not focusing on one person
in particular. And let's face it, you know, we can
probably all do with you know, having a better night sleep,
you know, putting our devices down, drinking a bit more water,
(15:17):
being a bit more active, those kinds of things. So
I think if we're doing it together, it makes a
big difference. We talk in our family a lot about balance,
so it's about going you know, there's no bad anything,
there's just we do more of this than we do
of that. But we do do this. Let's say, you know,
sugar retreats or ice cream or chocolate or whatever it
might be. We have that, but we balance it by,
(15:39):
you know, more of the time we'll eat these other
things instead, because we know for our amazing brain and
body to do all its work, it really needs that
stuff more than it needs that stuff, you know. So
it's never it's never about lecturing, and it's never about
telling anybody off for doing something. And just really interestingly,
I don't know how it worked, but my daughter ranked
me this morning and she said, Mum, I'm going taking
(16:01):
the dog for a walk and I've got some pocket money.
I'd really like to go to the shop and get
some would that be all right? And I said, why
don't you think about what you've already had today and
then you decide, And she she'd had a tot chocolate,
she'd made a hot chocolate at home this morning, and
she's like, oh, yeah, okay, and then she made that choice.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
But you know that's on you because she was ready
for that response from you, because there'll be some parents
if they tried that line and be like, oh here
comes mum telling me.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Yes, yeah, look I've done that, you know, to be fair,
I've done that. So this has taken time, and it's
learning on we're parents. We're learning as we go as well,
aren't we. So you know it's taken time. But I
realized that, you know, I don't like being lectured to,
so why would a child like to be lectured too?
And we want it? We all want to make our
own decisions, don't we. So it's sort of finding that pathway.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
You've established that also though, that tells me that you
have established a relationship with your child where they want
your input as well. You know, I mean that takes
a lot of work, doesn't it.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Probably look being a parent, there's a lot of work,
isn't it.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
We all, And I'm trying to find a way of
you know, that's the best way I can think of
to describe it is that she must know that that
you are going to give her not too hard a
hit on it, but you're going to be, like you
heard Jiminy Cricket, Yeah, in a way, her conscience in
a way. That's what kids are looking for from their
(17:25):
parents sometime, aren't they.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Yeah, And I think that's the thing. It's like we
you know, we we do talk about the stuff at
home obviously because of what I do. But you know
it's I think that lecturing. You know, when I had
adult clients, I didn't lecture them because that wasn't the
way to get them to change. It's a terrible word lecturing, No,
I know, but I know what you mean because some
of our health promotion can be very much like that,
(17:47):
and you know you feel it. You feel it, and
you're like, I don't want to get your hackles up,
don't you. So it's all about helping people find the
ways to and just understand again that what we do
is we're trying to help our amazing brain and body
to do all the work that it does for us.
And we need to just make you know, if we
can make choices on the basis rather than this is
bad for me, I shouldn't eat this, This is you know,
(18:09):
all of those kind of negative thoughts. If you think
about it positively, then it also gives you a difference
sort of angle on it.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
So for for parents who sort of think we're not
going to we're not catastrophing catastrophied in here, because look,
I think most parents do a great job and work
really hard, but you know they will have moments when
they think I've really let this one slip and my
daughter's eating or my son's eating too much bad food.
How would you how would you suggest to parents that,
(18:36):
you know, because you can't suddenly bring in the sleeve hummer, Right,
that's it, We're not having any more fish and chips
on Friday night, junk food's band and all that sort
of thing. What is the best way to eke out
a change in habits for your family and your children?
Do you think? How would you go? What would you
suggest to parents? Are like, oh gosh, we've got such
bad eating habits, and you know, I mean because you
can't go cold turkey, can you know?
Speaker 3 (18:56):
I think that exactly right. I think that's the key
is just little changes. You know, little changes done consistently
can make a massive difference. So you know, it might
that you just don't buy some of the things that
you that you used to maybe so there's less access
to I know, if I've got chocolate or chippies at home,
guess where they're going to go. You know, I'm going
to eat them, So I know myself, you know what,
(19:19):
I'm the boundaries for myself. So it's maybe just buy
less of them, you know, like we bake cookies at
home now because we can just put less sugar in them,
that's all. But we still have cookies, so we're not
taking away stuff. We're just trying to just trying to
moderate in one step at a time and definitely avoid
the talk about this is bad, we shouldn't have this,
(19:40):
we can't have this, we're going to get rid of this.
I think you've just got to go, you know, one
step at a time and take it really simple and
just do that consistently. So add in a vegy to
you know, to a meal, try lots of different things
as well, and get them involved.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
It's around a fistable thing. Yeah, my wife, I mean
I don't really, she doesn't like me to share her
secrets or whatever necessarily. But or but the hiding the
vegetables and things, I'm not sure if I'm not sure.
I'm big on the hiding because some some parents do
they oh, this is I've chopped this so small they
won't even notice I've stuck this. I'd rather go. I'd
(20:18):
rather them know rather than them thinking that because when
they're I don't know, if I'm not sure where I'm
at with the hiding the healthy food.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
I guess you just got to try it. Like I'll
tell you. My mum makes the most amazing speedy bolonnaise,
and she creates that be true, and she creates her
corgete and carrot, and and then she makes this amazing
sauce and my son, who's the pickiest eat it. Sorry
Dane on the planet. He he loves it.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
He to be fair, carrot is an important part of
a bonton, as if it's part of the initial preparation.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
But really, so she hides loads of edges in there
is what I'm saying. So I guess you've just got it.
It's that thing with being a parent.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Eventually it's like, really, you say, you don't know that
you've been eating it for the past six months, and
they go, what traitor?
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Didn't taste so bad?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
So we're talking about how do you gradually change your
kids to developing a few more healthy habits and forget
about whether it's your fault or not. How do you
do it?
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Wait, hundredady t Nadie, let's go to call Rachel.
Speaker 1 (21:19):
Hello, Hello there, Hi, Hi.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
I'm a I'm a dietician and I specialize in supporting
children to have a positive relationship with food in their bodies,
looking at a body image, but also like fussy eaters
and how we manage fussy eaters. So I just thought
I thought it was an interesting conversation.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Did you have any advice for how do we do this?
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Rachel?
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Yeah, I suppose there's a couple of things. And I
loved your idea of kind of talking about that we
don't talk about bad food, foods and good food. And actually,
the research shows is that children don't really understand the
nuance of kind of the ideas of balance and moderation
until they're significantly older, well into their teenage years. And
if we really want to raise healthy eaters, our best
(22:08):
approach is to role model eating a wide range of
foods ourselves, not talking negatively about any food. We talk
the food's just food, chocolates, chocolates and apples and apple,
and we don't talk about things in even in saying
these are better for us, or these are healthier or
more nutritious. And if we really one of the things
that's really interesting about children's relationship with sugar, the more
(22:31):
we restrict them from having those foods, the more they're
going to want us and the more they're going to
want to eat them to access when they when they
do get access to us, So we need to have
a relatively balanced approach that we still keep foods as
part of our routine. So we might have chocolate sometimes
and it's just there. We have it a couple of
times a week, it's it's part of our normal day.
(22:52):
And then there's other times where we need to allow
children to have unlimited access to some of these food
so that they can actually learn how to self regulate
when they do come into contact with them.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
If that makes sense, what do you show a whole
lot of muffins and pats cakes in front of them
and side, Well, today is the day, get into it.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
So one of the things that i'd recommend doing that
is doing that occasionally, say maybe once every two weeks
or so, but it's done at snack time, so it's
not a time that's going to interfere with the main
meals that have been eaten in the day. So it
might be at snack time there the whole packet of
biscuits is down on the table, but there's also carrots
and hummus, or there's a glass of milk, or there's
(23:29):
some yogurt, and there's a balance of a wide range
of food because what actually that happened is that takes
those sweet foods off the pedestal. And we know from
a psychological effect that if you say to a child
or if you if you eat your broccoli, I'll give
you some chocolate cake, you're reinforcing the idea that broccoli
is not very nice because you're saying, well, I'll give
(23:50):
you the nice thing afterwards. So I actually recommend serving
the chocolate cake at dinner with your lavagna, and your
child to eat it whenever they like. In relation to.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
The Wow, that's so.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
Crazy when they think of that, what.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
About what about? Some of the asked me, what about
on a text? Isn't the whole point is that kids
can't self regulate, isn't. So how does the parent balance
the job of helping them self reguide? Is that that
you're saying that that will help put the broccoli next
to the character.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
It's exactly the process that helps with self regulation.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
We've got.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
There's there's some really interesting research in the States and
they took groups of kids aged between five to seven
years of age, and they had kids that came from
households where they didn't get access to these foods very often,
and they had kids where they had regular access to
the food in a balanced sort of approach, and then
they put them in a party situation where they just
had free for all, and what they found was the
(24:45):
kids that didn't really get that much access actually ate
what they called in the study in excess of what
they were homebrew first, so they ended up overeating. And
I think the really important thing about that study is
that it reported that kids had shame and guilt after eating.
And these are six year olds and seven year olds
saying that they felt bad that they ate too much.
And actually, we know if we restricted, they're much more
(25:06):
likely to eat more. We need to allow them to
learn how to regulate, and they'll make mistakes.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
And I guess I'll get the feeling of that, and
then when they feel that exactly, yeah, gotcha, that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
If we limit, sorry you.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
And stop them from experiencing it, they may not get
that learning experience from going, Oh what does it feel like?
If I oh my Easter candy in one go and
have a load of pop to finish it, then I
feel if it's stick afterward, and maybe I might not
do that again next time.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Absolutely, actually, Rachel. So if I was, you know, and
we taken what you've said and distill it down to me,
what I'm what I'm walking away is is that one
of the faults we make is we designate stuff as
real treat food. So it's you make it the stuff
that the kids always want, whereas if you're saying, you're
saying you just provide a balanced sort of thing, and
(25:55):
so they don't see it as the holy grail that
I'm going to be happy if I can have five
kilos of chocolate.
Speaker 4 (26:01):
Most exactly exactly, And we obviously won't serve it all
the time because we need to have a balance of
foods and we decide what goes on the table as parents,
we decide when we serve as and where, but we
don't if we've restricted a limit it and if we
use negative words around it, it can end up really
damaging relationship with food and lead to a lot of
(26:24):
eating disorders or disordered eating, which we know is on
the rise and globally as well as naturally.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Yeah. Good, So, hey, thanks for your col Rach. I'll
really appreciate it. You're welcome all right, Actually can my
daughter who does you know one of my daughters. I
don't say which one. They never like me to identify them.
To be fair, I think kids will like pancakes and things.
And the problem I'm got was when I make pancakes
for them, I do make some pretty nice pancakes, and
I have the sugar guilt that I'm like, oh, I
(26:52):
know how much goes into these, but anyway, it's a treat.
But she's recently just said dead, I'm going to limit
my sugar intake to such and such. I can't mean
what it was. And she did the that I have
to give the credit to school because she's doing humanities
and health and things like that, and they're studying about
things and it's and whether it's part of just the
(27:13):
normal learning, and she's looking at going, oh, I can
see that it's okay to have a bit of this,
but I'm probably having too much. And the education side,
which as soon as I say education, people are going
only lecturing again, but no simple information, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
Yeah? And also the way they educate is in a
fun you know, there's there's a lot of different ways
that this information is given across as well. It's not
just a lecture. Yeah, so yeah, I know there's some
amazing stuff going on in schools with helping kids understand
this and the impact and then, as Rachel said, you know,
they feel it and then they experience it. And I
think that's the thing about learning, isn't it. We often
(27:48):
have to experience something in order to learn.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
So what do you do? I mean, actually, I'm just
trying to think how I'm going to How am I
going to deal with pancake day? Well, they just have
to just do it.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
That's like putting a whole chocolate cake on the table
with the broccoli, like Rachel just said.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
So, yeah, there's a text here where I'll just read
what it says. I'm pretty much sure it probably means
my mom. Okay, my mom force fed me till I vomited.
I'm I would hope that that's not quite what you meant.
Maybe your mom just gave you as much sweet stuff
as you wanted till you were sick. I did learn
that lesson over alcohol, to be honest.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Yeah, well that's right. There are lots of parallels, aren't there,
in different different habits that we acquire over our lifetime.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Mike says as a kid, there were some vegetables I
didn't like, but I watched adults enjoying them, and I
forced myself to eventually eat them and enjoy them so
I could be an adult. The funny thing is, that's
why I cut out. That's how I cut out sugar
and tea. Yeah, because I always used to have sugar
in tea when I was a teenager or whatever. Yeah,
And when I went to university, I noticed that my
(28:50):
mom never did. And I thought, I'm eight This is
how silly. This is how silly, I said, I'm eighteen now. Yeah,
And to be honest, I can't be bothered going to
get the sugar. Maybe I'll just be a growing up
and not have it. But that was me. Was that
conven Well, I think, but it was also, isn't it.
It's a silly little story, I know, I know, but
it is one of those things. I thought that that's
what help. Now when you're at you don't need to
(29:12):
I don't need the sugar so much. And after a
couple of cups of tea, I was done. And I
look at people now of sugar, It's like, what are
you even that for? I've got a producer out there
suddenly give me a very guilty book. So what I
mean before we wrap it up, just in a simple
way of distilling it if if parents are concerned that
it doesn't mean matter whether you feel you've you know,
(29:34):
set your kids up with a bad example, what's the
simplest way to make a small change or two? Do
you think? Oh, that's like that's a tricky question, isn't it.
That's a tough one to end with.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Well, I think I use can I use being active
as an example?
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Sure, I think that. You know, there are so so,
so so many benefits to being to moving our bodies,
and as I mentioned before, there are so many different
ways of doing that. So I think that as a family,
something really awesome to be able to do is just
take a walk together. You know, it might be after dinner,
you might have a little walk, might just be up
the drive to start with. Everyone might complain about it,
(30:07):
but you do it and you actually find that you
chat to each other, you find you put your devices down,
you you'll probably sleep a little bit better, all of
those sorts of things. So sometimes just taking that first
step is the hardest one. But just decide that you're
going to do something, and it might be that you say,
we're just going to have a dance in the in
the lounge. We're gonna turn some music on and we
have a dance.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
Dad, do not do not move, but just.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
Do it for a few minutes and then build on it,
build on it. So I say, start small, whatever it
is you're trying to do, start small and just build
and get everyone's you know, maybe not buy in, but
get their suggestions on what they'd like to do. And
like the little boy at home putting his device down,
I want to play cards with the family. So they
picked up the cards and the way they went and
that's what they That's what they're doing in the evenings
(30:53):
now before bed.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Fantastic. So people want to check out the work you do.
Of course you are the founder of the Young and
Healthy Trust. Is there any where they can go and
just check out some more more of the what come
Harvey is a yep.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Absolutely, So if they go to Young and Healthy dot
org dot nz they'll see more about the check and
challenge and the programs that I.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
Do Young and Healthy dot org dot nz. HI lovely
to meet, sure and hopeful we'll get you back and Kim,
thanks so much for your time. Save No, thank you.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
It's been awesome, excellent.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
We'll be back to rap sport in just a mo.
It is eighteen minutes to six. News Talk SEDB.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
For more from the weekend collective, listen live to News
Talks EDB weekends from three pm, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio
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