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10 minutes to feel like a great mom. Because you are!


Robyn Openshaw - Dec 10, 2010 - This Post May Contain Affiliate Links


I saw Kristy again, when I was running errands today.

She’s the mom whose 6-year old daughter had her first green smoothie at Roxberry, my first GSG franchisee.

Kristy said, “I’m making them at home now. My daughter is totally okay with drinking green stuff because she saw them doing it at the smoothie store.”

Don’t underestimate third-party endorsement of a new or controversial idea. A five-year old seeing a 12-year old cousin “eating healthy” is huge. Tell the 12-year old that she’s rockin’ that five-year old’s world, because she might not know what power and influence she has.

I said to Kristy, because she was so excited: “It makes you feel like a good mom, huh.”

And you ARE a good mom for taking a bit of time, creating a habit, making sure your children get liquid greens that add up to 7 servings daily. (That’s a pint.) And then learning to make a big salad every night for dinner.

And then acquiring 10 main dishes in your repertoire that are plant-based whole-food meals. (You get the idea. You keep taking another step down the path.)

Modern moms feel far too much guilt. The Information Age has resulted in so much angst about a thousand angles of parenting–so it’s inevitable that we fall short in many, if not most of them!

Pick the simple but important low-hanging fruit, as a parent. Do the stuff that has the biggest impact for the least investment. For example, sometimes we’re checked-out and distracted when our child gives us the blow-by-blow of a TV show he watched. But when our child is distraught after being rejected by her group of friends at school, we drop what we’re doing, look her in the eye, and listen empathically. It’s not hard to do, and your child may remember that forever. We recognize the things that really matter.

If you can spend only 10 mins. in the kitchen–even if that is ALL the time you have–spend it making green smoothies rather than Orange Julius or ice cream shakes.

The green smoothies habit makes you feel good about your parenting. It doesn’t just support your children’s physical and emotional/mental health. It ameliorates the burden of Parent Guilt, which is an epidemic and which is so nonproductive.

When you have strengths, you can live with your weaknesses. This first habit I teach is an easy strength to cultivate, I think.

I’m not great at sewing my kids’ clothes and making Halloween costumes, or mending them, like my sister-in-law Kelli. I wasn’t great at sitting on the floor for hours playing with my little ones, like my friend Kim. I’m not the most patient parent, like my old neighbor Alice.

But I am really good at some core habits to feed my kids good nutrition.

(My other strengths include stretching my kids’ brains with intelligent conversations; teaching them that reading is fun; helping them find ways to be entrepreneurial; and teaching them about the value of work and accountability.) Hopefully these few strengths cover a multitude of other sins.

I hope you’ll spend a few minutes congratulating yourself for the areas within parenting you are darn good at. What are YOU good at? Parents need self-esteem too!

Posted in: Green Smoothies, Relationships

13 thoughts on “10 minutes to feel like a great mom. Because you are!”

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Thanks Robyn for that uplift, I certainly needed it today!

  2. Anonymous says:

    Teaching my children how we are to live according to the Bible, teaching them life skills and teaching them good nutrition!

  3. Anonymous says:

    You are a true inspiration and in the world today..that is hard to do!

    Bravo.

  4. Anonymous says:

    OFF THIS TOPIC…

    I HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING YOU NOW SINCE THE END OF JULY. I HAVE A QUESTION. CAN I FREEZE A GREEN SMOOTHIE? IT SEEMS LIKE YOU CAN FREEZE ALL THE INGREDIENTS YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO FREEZE THE END RESULT. I WANT TO DO IT FOR MY DAUGHTER WHO I VISIT EVERY COUPLE OF WEEKS. SHE WILL DRINK THEM IF I MAKE THEM. A 50 YEAR OLD NURSE WHO WAS SKEPTICAL UNTIL SHE HAS WATCHED ME GO OFF ALL MY MEDS FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND OFF OXYGEN. SHE NOW BELIEVES. MY DOCTOR EVEN HAD ME GO IN FOR A MEGA BUNCH OF BLOOD TESTS AND I CAME OUT PERFECT. NOTHING WAS OUT OF BALANCE. HE BOUGHT A BLENDER FOR HIS OFFICE.

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      Pat Lee, I freeze green smoothies all the time. On a road trip, I take a cooler full of frozen pints.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Dear Green Smoothie Girl

    I drink green smoothies all the time, for the past two years. I have a lot of digestion issues due to low acid and lack of probiotics ( too expensive for our family to buy) . I’m 49 and also have a hiatal hernia which compromises digestion. I see a chiropractor for this and just general adjustments. I refuse any meds. from M.D.’s. Can I thrive on “solely”green smoothies to help indigestion and would it be too much fruit a day? I’m thinking of “only” drinking green smoothies to help with indigestion. Any thoughts? Please! I also have candida issues but I could use berries which are low in sugar. Thankyou for listening!

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      Pam, try adding homemade yogurt or kefir to your green smoothies for the same effect probiotics would achieve. There was a lady who weighed over 500 lbs. who blogged online for 5 months about her green-smoothies-only diet. She lost over 100 lbs. but her blog has disappeared from the web. Use a wide variety of ingredients and put some healthy fats (avocado, cold-processed oils) in small amounts in the green smoothies, and you can subsist on them indefinitely. You might get bored and miss chewing, though!

  6. Anonymous says:

    I am learning so much; thank you for allyou are doing. Question: I made the breakfast cereal this morning, it seems like adding boiling water or cooking would ruin the benefits of soaking the foods &/or using yogurt. Will you explain? Thank you.

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      Carol, it eliminates phytates to soak and then cook. But yes, with cooked cereal, you’re not getting live food with enzymes. I advocate eating a 60-80% raw, mostly plant-based diet.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Yes, I get that wonderful feeling too when I have my kids chug the green/red smoothies down before school! My older kids are asking for them, YES! that feels good too! It also means that they will want to do these lifestyle habits when they leave my good nest (which is definately not perfect).

    As to the Orange Julius comment above. This is the recipe I made up this Fall & the family loves it. I LOVE healthifing recipes (this is a word I use, don’t know if its correct Eng or not )

    Camille’s Non Dairy & Awesome Orange Julius

    1/4c. OJ Concentrate or 1-2 Fresh Oranges (Now Oranges are in season, I’ll be doing fresh)

    1-2 Frozen Bananas

    1/2 C. Frozen Strawberries (Not normally in O.J, But they make it YUUUMMY!)

    1-2 t. Vanilla Extract

    Stevia to taste. Or Agave it you want it really extravagant

    Ice

    2 C. Almond Milk

    2+ C. Water

    Blend & YUM!!! Serve with Whole Wheat toast & that makes a great breakfast. Imagine sucking this down when you have a bad sore throat; totally healthy and since its non dairy & healthy sweetners mixed with whole fruit, you’ll be left stronger, not weaker! It will be good for what ever AILS you : ) !!! Enjoy !!!

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      Camile, LOL! I was going to whip up an Orange Julius recipe that is healthier–and you beat me to it, I love it! “Healthifying” might not be a word, but Tammy (another GSG reader with a blog called “simplehealthytasty” uses that word too)! Let’s coin it–all words have a start somewhere.

  8. Anonymous says:

    Robyn,

    We love green smoothies and they definitely make me feel like a good mom. I haven’t done the best job of getting my kids to eat healthily so it’s my secret weapon.

    Tell me if this is ok… I buy fresh organic baby spinach in a big box from Sam’s. I pop the whole thing in the freezer when I get home and use it frozen for the smoothies. I do this because I don’t want to go to the store all the time and this way I can buy in bulk. I know it’s not as good as fresh but do you think I’m losing too much goodness by doing this?

    Thanks and bless you!

    leigh

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      Leigh, I think that’s great–but better if you use the fresh stuff until you need the rest to go in the freezer because you won’t be able to use it all. Fresh is better than frozen. But frozen is still okay! 🙂

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