How to raise healthy, independent children

Tana Amen, BSN, RN Nutrition and Lifestyle Expert, shares her top tips for parents on how to raise healthy and independent children
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How to raise healthy, independent children

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My top tips for raising an independent child would be to be honest with your child, be open. Remember what it's like to be a child. I'd say, protect their brains, and feed them well so they can function at their best. I'd also say not to enable them and give them chores. Chores actually help them to build self-esteem. One thing that I do with my daughter is actually notice what I like about her, not what I don't, when she is irritating me. I also focus more on her hard work more than telling her she is smart. Rather than saying, "Oh honey, you are so smart," I tell her, "Wow, what a great job, honey, strong work." Something that is really funny. I teach her this little trick of visualization, we walking up the hill one time, she was holding my hand and she had her eyes closed, I said, "Honey, what are you doing?" She said, "We are going up hill and it's kind of hard, so I have my eyes closed and I'm picturing walking down hill because it's easy." So I realized that is a great skill to teach children in all things. So whenever she is struggling with something, or having a hard time, I help her visualize it being easy and being finished. We talk about the goal before we start.

Tana Amen, BSN, RN Nutrition and Lifestyle Expert, shares her top tips for parents on how to raise healthy and independent children

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Tana Amen, BSN, RN

Nutrition & Lifestyle Expert

Tana Amen is affectionately known as “The Brain Doctor’s Wife.” Working alongside her husband, award-winning physician and New York Times best-selling author Daniel Amen, Tana is a highly respected health and fitness expert, who graduated magna cum laude from Loma Linda University’s nursing program.  After school Tana spent years working at Loma Linda’s in their level A trauma unit as a neurosurgical intensive care nurse, taking care of some of the sickest patients in the hospital.  There she learned firsthand the value of diet and nutrition on brain health. Tana is the author of 4 highly successful books, including three brain healthy cookbooks and a coaching guide. Tana is one of the main consultants to The Daniel Plan, Pastor Rick Warren and Saddleback Churches’ Plan to get the world healthy through religious organizations. After the first year the church lost 250,000 pounds, but weight loss was only one of the stunning side effects of getting truly healthy.  Other common effects of The Daniel Plan were increased energy, better focus and mood, and a reduction of many medications for the participants. In May of 2013, Tana’s new book, The Omni Diet: 2 Weeks to Lose Weight, Reverse Illness and Control Your Genes will be out.

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