{"id":1483,"date":"2012-03-30T19:53:11","date_gmt":"2012-03-30T19:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/skinnygeneproject.dreamhosters.com\/?p=1483"},"modified":"2012-03-30T19:53:11","modified_gmt":"2012-03-30T19:53:11","slug":"through-my-daughters-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skinnygeneproject.org\/through-my-daughters-eyes\/","title":{"rendered":"Through My Daughter’s Eyes"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

I remember holding my daughter for the first time and looking into her eyes. Although small, her eyes told a story filled with infinite possibilities. I saw motherhood as being a lifetime of firsts \u2013 first words, first steps, first recital \u2013 each one flooding my\u00a0heart\u00a0with\u00a0abundant\u00a0joy and love.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

First dance recital<\/p><\/div>\n

As my \u201cbaby\u201d turned into my \u201clittle princess\u201d, I could see the change in her eyes.<\/p>\n

Now when I look into her eyes, I can still see her beauty growing\u00a0inside, but most importantly, when it comes to looking for a glimpse into what her future can be, I see that her\u00a0brown\u00a0eyes are right there, staring back at me.<\/p>\n

My daughter is at a\u00a0highly\u00a0impressionable age, in which almost every\u00a0experience\u00a0doubles as\u00a0a possible influence. Limiting her TV to PBS and videos has not been a strong enough gatekeeper to thwart the efforts of kid-targeted advertisers. Short of blindfolding my\u00a0daughter in the grocery store, or leaving her behind, it\u2019s hard to\u00a0prevent\u00a0her from being bombarded by the countless kid-targeted products, placed\u00a0perfectly\u00a0at her eye level – of course. And if the pressures on TV and the in-store advertisements\u00a0weren’t\u00a0hard enough, I have to\u00a0compete\u00a0with the greatest threat of all – kid-to-kid, word-of\u2013mouth advertising.<\/p>\n

The kids on the playground and in the classroom are like parakeets, repeating whatever they\u00a0hear\u00a0at home\u00a0and sharing their likes and dislikes, which influences how my daughter perceives different foods. I’m constantly being told by advertisers, other parents, even my own daughter what I should be buying.<\/p>\n

\n

Wait a minute, Mr. Advertiser, unless you plan on contributing to her college\u00a0fund and the weekly grocery budget, you don\u2019t\u00a0get\u00a0to have a say in how my\u00a0child\u00a0is raised.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I felt like my\u00a0voice\u00a0was\u00a0quickly\u00a0becoming\u00a0out\u00a0numbered. If advertisers are spending more than $2 billion a\u00a0year\u00a0to target children, I\u2019m going to need some reinforcements.\u00a0That\u2019s also when I realized one\u00a0very\u00a0important\u00a0thing.\u00a0Yes, there are many negative\u00a0distractions vying for my daughter\u2019s attention, but\u00a0at the end of the\u00a0day,\u00a0her eyes are still on me<\/em>. I get to\u00a0decide\u00a0what the next\u00a0move\u00a0will be. My\u00a0decision\u00a0was\u00a0simple, reassert my role as CEO of my household, as the Head Product and Produce Inspector, as Chief Health and Wellness Ambassador, in other words- MOM.<\/p>\n

I have a family history of diabetes, both\u00a0type\u00a01 and type 2, but I\u2019ve decided to\u00a0pass\u00a0on a\u00a0different\u00a0family\u00a0tradition. One in which we live to prevent diabetes, not find ways to\u00a0live\u00a0in spite of it. The studies show that 1 in 3 children are projected to\u00a0develop\u00a0diabetes in their lifestyle, losing up to 23 years of life. But when I look into my daughter\u2019s eyes, I\u2019m reminded of the\u00a0vow\u00a0I took in my heart\u00a0to love and\u00a0protect\u00a0her. And right now,\u00a0statically, diabetes is her biggest threat.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve probably heard the saying that it takes a village to raise a child. Well, I\u00a0believe\u00a0this has never been more true than today. I feel so grateful to have other friends and family in our lives whose actions\u00a0reinforce\u00a0our values of living a healthy lifestyle. My daughter\u2019s eyes might\u00a0be\u00a0on me, but she\u2019s also looking to see who else supports the values and\u00a0ideal\u00a0that I put\u00a0forth.<\/p>\n

(*Please click on each of the 10 numbers below to see the pictures.<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n

Since my daughter was born,\u00a0we tried to be a living example of what it means to live a healthy lifestyle.\u00a0Each week we have a family day, which\u00a0generally\u00a0incorporates both family fun and physical activity.\u00a0 We also\u00a0make\u00a0a conscious decision to expose her to various forms of competitive events. Since before my daughter was 2 years old, she\u2019s been going with us\u00a0to cheer on our friends at their marathons.\u00a0When we can\u2019t\u00a0cheer\u00a0them on in person, we\u00a0show\u00a0her photos of the\u00a0event\u00a0and talk about their accomplishments.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

My daughter goes to see Jarod run his first marathon<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

\u201cCome on guys, let\u2019s run like Lindsay.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Last month, I signed us up for our first Mother-Daughter 5k. Two weeks prior to our race, we cheered on her \u201cAuntie\u201d Lindsay at her first \u00bd marathon. My little\u00a0runner’s eyes beamed as she watched Lindsay\u00a0run\u00a0towards the finish line.\u00a0In that\u00a0moment,\u00a0my daughter idolized Lindsay, and my heart was\u00a0happy. I knew that a new\u00a0connection\u00a0had been made, linking my daughter\u2019s understanding of what exercise is and why we do it, to an actual\u00a0desire\u00a0to grow and develop as a runner.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

So proud of her Auntie Lindsay for doing a 1\/2 marathon<\/p><\/div>\n

After Lindsay\u2019s \u00bd marathon, my daughter couldn\u2019t\u00a0wait\u00a0to participate in her own\u00a0race. She asked several times a day, every day, for two weeks, \u201cWhen do I get to do my race Mommy?\u201d Then she\u2019d tell my husband, \u201cDaddy, you have to cheer like\u00a0Jarod\u00a0(Lindsay\u2019s husband), and say\u00a0wooooo\u00a0really loud. Okay Daddy?\u201d<\/p>\n

The day before the race, my daughter and I went to the pre-race\u00a0expo and picked up our bibs. As we stood in line, my little\u00a0runner\u00a0told everybody within an earshot how she was going to \u201cwin\u201d her race tomorrow. She\u2019d say, \u201cAre you running tomorrow, cause I am, and I\u2019m gonna run super fast, so\u00a0I can win.\u201d Seeing her excitement filled my heart with joy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Picked up our bibs and are ready for our race.<\/p><\/div>\n

After what seem like months to my mini-me, the\u00a0day\u00a0of our Mother-Daughter\u00a0race\u00a0finally came, but the circumstances were less than\u00a0ideal. A\u00a0huge\u00a0storm came through San Diego that weekend. This part of sunny California was, well, anything but\u00a0sunny.<\/p>\n

The night before, I watched as the rain pelted against\u00a0the window\u00a0and the trees swayed.\u00a0I didn\u2019t\u00a0want\u00a0to\u00a0get\u00a0the mail in that\u00a0weather, much less\u00a0do\u00a0a 5k.\u00a0We had a little dress rehearsal, trying on\u00a0several\u00a0combinations of fleece jackets and rain gear.\u00a0I tossed and turned throughout the night, worrying if I was making the right choice by\u00a0subjecting her to such inclement weather.\u00a0But then I remembered the\u00a0cover\u00a0of the Parents magazine that I just saw, \u201cRaising a\u00a0kid\u00a0that won\u2019t give up\u201d.<\/p>\n

Maybe this\u00a0race\u00a0can be much more than a\u00a0lesson\u00a0about physical activity and living a healthy lifestyle. It\u2019s an opportunity to\u00a0show\u00a0my daughter that life is anything but easy, but we have a choice. We can\u00a0cower\u00a0and hide from\u00a0adversity, or we can\u00a0decide\u00a0to\u00a0dance\u00a0in the rain. When we properly\u00a0equip\u00a0ourselves, we can\u00a0fight\u00a0through whatever we are going through, and\u00a0come\u00a0out a winner at the end.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Showing our medals.<\/p><\/div>\n

On the big day<\/em>, I quickly put in an appeal to God as we pulled away from the house. \u201cLord, I can handle the cold, but I don\u2019t know if I can put my daughter through this rain.\u201d \u00a0Despite my growing anxiety, we headed towards the race, knowing I reserved the right to pull out of the race if I didn\u2019t\u00a0feel\u00a0it was\u00a0safe to continue. As soon as we approached the parking lot for the event, the rain stopped. I looked to the skies and smiled in\u00a0gratitude.<\/p>\n

My daughter talked about how excited she was during the car ride, but as soon as the wind hit her face, she began to get scared. \u201cMommy I want to go inside.\u201d \u201cOh honey, we can\u2019t\u00a0go\u00a0inside\u201d, I said. \u201cThe race is outside. Don\u2019t be scared. It\u2019s just the wind, and you\u2019ll warm up as soon as we get moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

I pinned her bib, #678, to her Hello Kitty rain jacket, and we were off. The first part of the course was the hardest, because my 32 pound\u00a0child\u00a0had to fight her way against 40 mile an hour winds.\u00a0I held her hand tightly in my grasp; it was almost as if I were\u00a0afraid the wind might\u00a0take\u00a0her away.<\/p>\n

Before I knew it, my little\u00a0competitor\u00a0had turned her\u00a0focus\u00a0from the blistering winds and fringed\u00a0weather\u00a0to people in the\u00a0race\u00a0that she wanted to catch up to or pass. One was a little girl that was almost 2 years her elder.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A friend she met along the way.<\/p><\/div>\n

Including the inevitable potty break – she is 4 after all – we crossed the finish line, hand-in-hand in less than 50 minutes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny, because now when my little 5ker tells her story, she doesn\u2019t bring up the cold weather or wind. She says, \u201cI crossed the finish line with my mommy.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I see the world through my daughter\u2019s eyes, I see plenty of negative temptations, but I also see hope. She is surrounded by so many people, parents, aunties and uncles, neighbors and friends, all helping to\u00a0challenge what has become “the norm” and instead\u00a0promote\u00a0living healthfully.<\/p>\n

As for me, our first Mommy and Me race is a day I will never forget. Thinking about what she accomplished,\u00a0walking\u00a0(evening running)\u00a0her first 5K before the age of 5, fills me with tremendous amounts of love and pride.<\/p>\n

I look back smiling, because it turns out it did shine\u00a0brightly\u00a0that day. It just wasn\u2019t in the sky. It was on her face.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

ABOUT ME<\/strong>: My name is Marlayna. I\u2019ve recently shared my story about why I chose to LIVE MY LIFE WITH INTENTION-\u00a0my life\u2019s\u00a0journey\u00a0towards becoming who I am today\u00a0(click here to read it<\/a>). I\u2019m a mother, wife, friend, and a diabetes prevention advocate. I occassionally blog about living a healthy lifestyle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since my daughter was born, we tried to be a living example of what it means to live a healthy lifestyle. When I see the world through my daughter\u2019s eyes, I see plenty of negative temptations, but I also see hope. She is surrounded by so many people, parents, aunties and uncles, neighbors and friends, all helping to challenge what has become “the norm” and instead promote living healthfully.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[681,231],"tags":[195,196,73,74,200,201,329,180,978,81,979,82,83],"class_list":["post-1483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faces-of-prevention","category-living-life-with-intention","tag-childhood-obesity","tag-children","tag-educate","tag-empower","tag-healthy-home","tag-healthy-lifestyle","tag-healthy-mommas","tag-kids","tag-marlayna-bollinger","tag-prevent-diabetes","tag-running","tag-skinny-gene","tag-skinny-gene-project"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p90Iz0-nV","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skinnygeneproject.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skinnygeneproject.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skinnygeneproject.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skinnygeneproject.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skinnygeneproject.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.skinnygeneproject.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skinnygeneproject.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skinnygeneproject.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skinnygeneproject.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}