Parents Are Kids' Biggest Role Models

You hear a lot of talk about the kind of role models that are available for kids these days.  Not many parents are thrilled by the idea of their kids looking up to Charlie Sheen, the Kardashians or steroid-using sports stars.  Between pop musicians, movie and TV stars, and sports players acting badly, it seems our kids are fed a constant stream of poor examples.  We as parents begin to wonder if anything we do or say will have any impact on kids surrounded by a lot of, well, glorified bad behavior.

One of my favorite sayings (and one I've always repeated to my students ad nauseum) is "Character is defined by the choices you make when you think no one is looking."  Those of us with kids know the truth:  most of the time, someone IS looking - usually a small someone with very big eyes.  Kids notice everything we do and those actions have much more influence on our kids that what we say to them.  We are the ultimate role models.

One example of this spans several generations in our family.  Both my husband and I grew up drinking milk as our primary beverage at all three meals.  My father-in-law still orders "a big glass of milk" every time we go out to eat.  Because of the examples we grew up with, my husband and I automatically serve milk at our dinner table as well.  LJ even follows his grandpa's example and orders it when we go out to a restaurant.  (He doesn't even like soda at all - I'm hoping that lasts!)  Not that LJ doesn't get a treat on special occasions, he does.  Sometimes he orders vanilla milk!  I know it would not have had the same result if we lectured him about the importance of healthy drinks and then downed a soda every time we got the chance.

Speaking of milk, the National Milk Mustache "got milk?" campaign has a new interactive section on their Facebook page.  You can create your own milk mustache picture (see my cutie to the right!) or send an e-postcard to your own role model and don't forget to "like" their page - what's not to like about it, right?  There's a cute video featuring some blogger friends and also some great recipes that take advantage of milk's nutrition. 

This post is part of a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of the National Milk Mustache got milk? Campaign and I was compensated in return for my time and effort.  The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced by any compensation.