Life is a String

I was trying to explain the importance of eating healthy to my kids, who love treats. They usually get a treat after dinner, whether that is ice cream, a lollipop, or some other sweet (because we want to try and desensitize them from sugar and not put it on a pedestal) and at times, they don’t eat enough dinner or their fruit. That is where the struggle has been recently,

When I was talking to my 5 year old daughter about making sure we eat our vegetables, I talked about how when we eat the right things it’s like we are buying extra time for ourselves in life. She thought about what I just said for a minute and then told me that she thought life is like a string and when we eat and do the right things, the string gets longer. When we don’t eat and do the right things, the string gets shorter.

I was really surprised and impressed by the way she fit what I was saying into this framework. It’s much easier to understand than “buying” time when we eat and do the right things. Now, my daughter has been saying life is a string periodically and it makes me smile that she came up with something better than me and most importantly, the concept I was trying to land is sticking.