Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Deuteronomy 4:9
We have been discussing how to help your children off the path of overweight, obesity, or any slavery to any stronghold in the world today. It all starts with the mom and the dad. If the hearts of the father and mother are turned toward God, where God is their everything, then there will be a natural understanding of how to avoid overindulgences in anything. In other words, there will be no greed for extra food, or unnecessary material possessions, overindulgences in alcohol or drugs, anger, gossip, or any stronghold.
With this fact in mind, my first encouragement is to just absorb God’s basic truths for your OWN heart, soul, and mind. In the area of food, make sure that you get your own heart right before you try to correct your child’s overeating. Your purely devoted heart is a MUST for your children if you expect for them to go through life without overindulgence with food, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, or anything else in the world. If you worship something on this earth more than you worship God, then your children will do the same. Whether you like it or not, you teach them powerfully with every move you make and with every word you say. They KNOW what makes you get out of bed every day, and they know what lights your eyes. If you love to lust after food, they will learn to follow your lead.
But a PURE heart – reflected in having no greed for extra food – will also be imitated by your children. They can be free from the habits of eating from boredom, stress, or simply because food is there. They will learn to enjoy God’s wonderful foods within His boundaries, then jump up full of energy to run and play and find out what fun things God has in store for them that day! The fact is, all children are programmed by God to eat this way to begin with – we just need to plug that natural ability back in. What a blessing!
(Excerpt from Feeding Children Physically and Spiritually, by Gwen Shamblin)
