STAYING FIT WITH THE KIDS
Seymour extends her commitment to fitness to her children,
making sure they're involved in one sport per season and
encouraging them to be active as a family. "I help
by throwing and catching with them," she says. "I
like to play tennis with them-that is my sport And I like
to play golf with them, and I swim with them. But tackle
football is just not an option. 'Table tennis I can play
with them, or swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving."
Though she doesn't do it as often as she'd like, Seymour also
loves to cook. Each morning she prepares a hot breakfast, and
she cooks dinner when she can. "It depends on what my
schedule is, but absolutely I love to cook - finding the time
is tough."
Seymour's feeding style is tailored to her kids' needs. "We
have to make sure the skinny one eats more and eats the right
thing, and we are trying to persuade them to make good choices
for themselves," she says, "We feed them six small
meals a day, rather than big ones. We give them a very good
breakfast; we get some protein in them. When they eat toast
or bread, there is no butter or cream cheese on it. They
are now really into brown bread and brown rice, which is cool."
Seymour says the key to getting kids to eat healthy is to
get them involved in food preparation. "We grow organic
vegetables in the garden, and they help grow these things,
so they take pride and ownership in broccoli and pea pods
and zucchini and fresh strawberries and oranges," she
says. "And I cook with them sometimes. Of course, I
don't let them alone next to the stove. But they are perfectly
capable of making any kind of egg dish, and they have been
known to cook pasta. They will chop things up and grate things
and stir things, and we read recipes together. They get excited
when I cook. (They say:) Mommy - cook, Mommy - cook!' So
I say, 'OK. guys, you help me!' And we do it all together
as a team."
Seymour believes mealtimes should be special, and she
carries over some of her own childhood memories. "We
do this tradition - my sister does it as well," she
says. "My mom always lights the candles every night.
Not for religious reasons. We just take the time out
to put some flowers in the middle of the table (and)
set the table. The boys help me with that, and they love
to light the candles and love to blow them out. When
I did Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman I realized what
was different in that series and what happens in most
families' lives now is that people don't take the time
out to sit down and have dinner with their families.
I think it is very important. We all sit together and
talk about what is going on."
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