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Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Change takes time

Most of us take a while to adapt to change (even change that is good for us!) and kids are no different.  Although we'd like them to change instantaneously, it takes time.  The key is baby steps.  A step in the right direction is a step towards mastery of a task or behavior.

I was thinking of this while I was preparing dinner tonight.  Even a year ago, I never would have believed that we'd be eating mostly vegan now.  We became much more health conscious several years ago, slowly replacing unhealthy food with better choices.  Some "old" recipes I made with less frequency while others had "makeovers" to reflect our new dietary goals.  New recipes became family favorites.  As long as I didn't make drastic changes, I didn't get too many complaints  :)  I also learned that no one likes surprises.  The "sneaky chef" approach was guaranteed to bring mutiny to the dinner table.  Saying after dinner, "Guess what was in that meatloaf?" isn't a nice thing to do.  Even husbands won't trust you after hearing about all the healthy additives, cleverly disguised under lots of spices and BBQ sauce, that he'd just consumed.  So, be honest and upfront if you are trying something new on your unsuspecting family.  Tastes will change...eventually.

By making small changes over a period of time, big changes can occur.  It doesn't matter if we're talking about changes in diet or changes in habits or changes in attitude, give your family (or child or husband or yourself) time to adjust and learn new patterns of behavior.  Baby steps!


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