Eat the Berries, Parents. Seriously.
Eat the Berries, Parents. Seriously.
Have you ever opened the fridge, locked eyes with a perfect quart of strawberries, and paused mid-reach?
You love strawberries. You can smell the sweet tartness just from cracking the fridge door. Your brain lights up: Yes, fruit! Antioxidants! One step closer to 5-10 servings a day!
Then... you stop.
What if the kids want them later today or in the morning? After all, aren't those berries — nature’s dessert — meant for them?
So you close the lid and grab something else. A handful of nuts, a carrot, maybe chips or cheese and crackers ... no judgment. This isn’t a nutrition course — it’s real life.
Sound familiar?
A year ago, I caught myself doing exactly this. Not for the first time — I’ve saved the good berries for my daughter for years. But this time, I noticed. I’d recently resolved to eat more berries (hello, peri-menopause — the mystery aches, the inflammation, the reality of feeling 29 in your mind but your body reminding you that you aren't).
Science says berries are superheroes in a bowl. And having worked in pharma and studied biology and chemistry, I knew that. Still, I'd hand them over every time. Until I didn’t.
I ate the berries.
My daughter walked into the kitchen in that moment.
Her: “What are you doing?” Me: “Eating berries.” Her: “But I was going to eat the berries… I thought they were mine.” Me: “They’re ours. And they’re good for me too.” Her: pauses, thinks “Okay.”
Since then, I've been watching 'berry behavior' like a hawk. Turns out, it's not just me. Friends, neighbors, healthcare providers (I'm serious, this came up at an appointment!) — parents everywhere are doing this! Do you? It’s like there's an unwritten household rule: berries are for the kids!
But why aren’t we eating them too?
We know berries are good. We know they help fight inflammation and disease and aging and all the stuff that piles on in adulthood. So the real question isn’t why don’t we know better — it’s why don’t we act on it?
And bigger than that (and if it's too deep, stick with the berry theme)…
What are your berries?
What's the small thing you've denied yourself that might actually help you feel better, live better, be better?
For me, beyond nutrition for myself, eating the berries showed my daughter that grown-ups deserve health too. That parents aren’t just providers — we’re humans. We’re allowed to choose ourselves sometimes. We can do that. And when she grows up, she can too!
These days, we buy extra berries. My daughter still eats them. I do too. Once and awhile we run out of berries before we intend to, just like when someone eats the last cookie, the leftover slice of pizza or even finishes the baby carrots. I haven't failed as a parent when this happens … it's not like I'm throwing them in the garbage. Although I occasionally do have to listen to a mini-rant about the cost lol
Now - I smile every time I reach for the berries. This habit shift reminds me that change is possible, that we don't have to keep doing things just because it's the way we did it in the past AND that humans are remarkably capable of growth.
So — what happens if YOU eat the "berries"?
And - what else does this delicious metaphor mean in your life? Maybe there is one small change that makes sense to start today? What if you experimented with that this week?!
Tina
(www.successcompass.ca)
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