Margit has been one of our ninjas for over a year now.

 

It’s not a typo for Margaret by the way.

 

Bless her, at the end of every session, Margit always stands patiently waiting for us to finish any conversation with someone else that we might be in, before thanking us for the session.

 

The other day I said to her “You’re so polite Margit. You could just say thank-you and leave while I’m talking to someone else”

 

“I teach my kids to always say thank you and to wait till people have finished their conversations, so why should I be any different?” was her reply.

 

Which is a great point.

 

Those of us with children all work hard to instill certain habits and beliefs in our children.

 

And those who don’t have children can, we’re sure, understand that.

 

But we (and I include myself in that) are often guilty of not applying the same expectations to ourselves.

 

We tell our children it’s important to get a good nights sleep.

 

To have some quiet time before bed to calm us down.

 

Then we stay up late, firing hundreds of images per second into our brain from the tele-box / tablet / phone.

 

We teach our children the importance of a healthy, balanced diet.

 

Then end up feeding ourselves poisonous crap.

 

We explain to our kids that they should be responsible for their own actions.

 

Then allow a ‘victim mindset’ to develop in our own heads – feeling sorry for ourselves for being in a situation entirely of our own creation.

 

We tell the kids it’s important to be active.

 

And allow ourselves to become less and less so over time.

 

If we wouldn’t recommend alcohol as a way to relax to a child, why does it need to the the only way for an adult?

 

As I said, I’m not excluding myself from that.

 

With a 4, 5 (on Friday) and 6 year old at home, I find myself doing all of the above at times.

 

We’re human, remember.

 

But it’s a useful way to think about things.

 

To help us get back on track.

 

If our own behaviour is something we wouldn’t accept in our children (or you wouldn’t think a parent should, if you don’t have kids), then why are we doing it?

 

Asking that question can be the powerful first step in changing our behaviour.

 

 

Much love,

 

Jon ‘I must admit, having kids is a lot harder than I expected’ Hall and Matt ‘3 dogs is enough for now’ Nicholson


Jon Hall
Jon Hall

When not helping people to transform their lives and bodies, Jon can usually be found either playing with his kids or taxi-ing them around. If you'd like to find out more about what we do at RISE then enter your details in the box to the right or bottom of this page or at myrise.co.uk - this is the same way every single one of the hundreds who've described this as "one of the best decisions I've ever made" took their first step.