So, the book that I am writing now, in collaboration with my sister, Dr. Suzannah Bozzone, is going to be about eating whole foods. It is for small children -- pre-K to about 1st or 2nd grade and their parents. I am writing and illustrating the fun bit -- an adventure of a pig, owl and cat who come to the realization that your lifestyle determines how you feel. Suzi will be giving instruction and real data to parents, plus recipes, resources etc.
I am really excited about this and I know that it will help the health and wellbeing of those who get into it. It may even help the readers prevent those preventable diseases that Americans are dying of left an right. Suzi is an expert in the field and has made an amazing difference in the life and health of her patients.
As I have been writing these books, studying daily habits and their power to our affect our lives I have been thinking a lot about that in reference to our relationship to money and resources. Our lifestyle's relationship to our physical health is clear. Our lifestyle affects the health of every other aspect life as well -- including our financial health. Most Americans just eat what their parents ate -- and have the diseases their parents had. It's directly related and comes from too much mindless habit and not enough intentional living. (Genes play a far smaller role than you think.) This is the exact same phenomenon that we have with our money habits. If our parents were afraid to ask questions at the bank, or didn't manage their debt, or thought wealth was for the special or the savvy or even the evil in society -- that is what we, their children, are likely to think and do as well. We end up with the same diseases as our parents and with the same financial struggles as our parents -- because we are just doing what they did. And just like the children of people with diabetes, heart disease and obesity we are doomed if we don't take control of our education and change our learned habits. We'll end up with their financial struggles too. We'll have to work jobs we hate until we die. And, even with all that work, we still die with debt and too many useless possessions.
Financial diseases are also preventable, but we have to learn the difference between healthy financial habits and unhealthy financial habits.
Just like with diet and lifestyle for your physical health, these things are best accomplished with the family working together toward that end and asking all the taboo questions, learning the answers, learning the strategies for changing behavior, supporting each other and making incremental changes toward generational wealth. The earlier you learn, the better off you'll be.
So here's the idea -- an easy, fun book, with pictures charts and visual aids that teach kids (perhaps, kids who are a little older than my usual audience) and their parents how to achieve financial health -- even if you are currently really unwell on the financial front you can have a healthy financial life -- and that stress reduction can only improve your physical health as well.
What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comments.