The Mt. Everest of Kids Health

I have been preparing this last week for a presentation I am giving tonight in the Dallas area. (Hence, no Weekly Nutrition Nuggets today.) The presentation is all about the summit of Kids Health and the three things that will keep people from getting there.

Essentially, it’s about how to bring about change in the area of your health when change is super hard.  (Much of these ideas right now come from my current reading of the book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, by Chip and Dan Heath.)  Without these three things, it’s impossible to get to the top….

Knowledge. Motivation. And a Clear Pathway.

Many readers who come to our site are looking for knowledge. They have been scouring the internet for answers to questions about their kids health or how to eat healthy. On our site, they find even more information and perhaps a few answers as well. Most of these readers walk away with some new information and knowledge, hoping it will help bring about change…somehow.

Some of these parents are also deeply motivated to see a change in their child’s health. They are ready to take action. So, they quickly contact us and even take the next step with our Kids Symptom Assessment. (Both of those steps are still knowledge-level pieces, by the way.)

But with just the knowledge and motivation, they still lack the last key thing to take them to the top: A Clear Pathway. This is where our Health Coaching comes in. I offer to be their personal “sherpa” or health expedition guide.

This is where about half the parents drop off and never keep moving forward. They decide to either go it alone (again) and try to make their own way up the mountain of optimal health, or they find a less-experienced guide, in hopes it will get them to the same destination.

My hope is that, by sharing tonight, I can help parents see that the clear pathway is right in front of them. They just need the internal motivation to make the journey.

So Which Area Holds You Back The Most?

In seeking better health for your child, which piece is still missing for you? Is it the sufficient knowledge? Is it the internal motivation? Or do you lack a clear pathway?

Share in the comments below (and then take the next step up the mountain!)