Tools
A few weeks ago, I stood behind my five year old, staring into the fridge, eating a handful of M&Ms, saying “You need to have something healthy for your afternoon snack.” It struck me that if I lived my life more along the lines of what I expect of my children, I would be a much healthier person — and a better mommy to boot. 
So here’s my list of the day-to-day rules for kids that parents should follow too:
• Eat your breakfast. Every morning, I tell my kindergartener that she needs breakfast to help her brain work right. A few hours later, after skipping breakfast myself, I’m dragging around the house wondering why I can never find my keys.

• Go outside and play. We all need exercise, and our bodies need sunlight to create vitamin D and serotonin to keep us healthy and happy. So why do I opt to clean the kitchen while the kids romp outside?
 
• Eat your vegetables. I’m fairly diligent in making sure that my kids get fruit and/or veggies with every meal, and while we don’t belong to the clean plate club, not eating your veggies is a deal breaker for dessert. So, instead of skipping the produce and going straight for dessert, I’m trying to make my fruit BE the dessert. Yikes. Being a kid is tough.

• No more TV. I try (sometimes in vain) to limit my kids’ TV watching to one hour per day. While I don’t watch a ton of TV, I don’t limit my TV at all, and I’m certain I could get a lot more done every day if I watched less. Thanks Oprah, for taking your show off the air.
 
• Read More. I love to read. The kids love to read. They get new books from the library every few weeks and read them all within a couple days. I get new books from the library and keep them for five months, thinking their contents will somehow seep into my head from their spot on the nightstand while I sleep.
 
• Listen (and don’t interrupt). After four years straight of pregnancy/infant care/sleep deprivation, a severe case of “mommy brain” has turned me into an interrupter. I have to say it right when I think it, lest I forget it. So, I’m going to work harder at listening more and holding onto my thoughts until it is an appropriate time to voice them.

• Mind your manners. My son is a natural at saying, “yes, please” and “oh, thank you so much!” In the hurry-scurry of daily life I often look back on my interactions with the people who make our lives better (family, friends, service people) and wish I would have expressed more gratitude.

Who needs New Year’s resolutions when you have kids? Just try living like a five-year-old in 2012. I, for one, am still going to refuse to make my bed, though.
 
In addition to being a hypocritical mother, Fawn Warner Rechkemmer is a blogger and freelance writer. She lives in Little Rock with her kids and her husband, who reads than she does. When she’s not busy perfecting absent-mindedness, she blogs about frugality, mommyhood, going green, travel, and life 
in Little Rock at InsteadOfTheDishes.com.