The foundation of good habits makes life simpler as an adult

As I go through life I am trying to improve myself.  I try to be less of a lazy bon bon eating housewife, and more of a productive healthy woman.

There are a thousand and one things that I do wrong, and I want to fix most of them (not giving up my chocolate!)

Rather than sulk in despair at how far I have to go, I choose one or two simple steps and focus on each for as long as my short attention span can handle.

Any time I have a lifelong habit to break, meaning something I have been doing wrong most of my life, it is very difficult to change.  On the other hand whenever I pick a bad habit to change that I only fell into as an adult, things are simpler.

Prime example, vegetables.  Whatever other ills our diet had growing up, Mom always insisted a dinner was not complete without a vegetable.  While I fell somewhat out of the habit as a late teen and early adult hood, it was fairly simple to fall back into the healthy habit of including a veggie with every meal when we had kids.  (yes for them I eat healthy)

On the other hand, avoiding sugar is nigh on impossible.  I was raised to drink sugar (milk, juice, koolaid) and to eat it (ice cream for dinner, cake or cookies as comfort foods)  and crave it, ooh we did something good we deserve chocolate!  Trying to reduce my own consumption of sugar has been a very difficult battle.

I think these mini battles of mine have effected how I parent.  I want my children to have lots of good habits, and few lifelong bad ones.  I know they will stray as teens, or young adults, but I hope that one day they will want to live a healthy lifestyle and will have some great childhood habits to fall back on.