Moms are always evaluating their decisions and rules around kids. Am I too strict? Too lenient? Am I promoting good habits?

Even if we use articles from experts and our own desire to live healthy as a guide, we wonder what will happen when they grow up. Will our kids be swayed away from our guidance by peers and the constant tug of advertising?

If you set a good example as a role model, you’ve got a good chance to combat those external pressures.

I was pretty strict about food. I didn’t let my kids eat junk food at home. We had no pop, candy, chips or cookies in the house. We ate real fruit and veggies for snacks –not processed foods. If they were at a friend’s house, relative’s house, or a party, I relaxed the rules.

This decision was partly because I wanted to eat healthy and didn’t want those temptations around. I wanted to model healthy eating habits.

By the time my children were teenagers, it was pretty hard to enforce the rules. They were buying their own junk food and spending more time away from home with friends. I let the rules slide because I had bigger issues to confront in their teen years, when I was more concerned about keeping them from alcohol, drugs and dangers online.

I took a similar approach with activities. I didn’t let my kids have phones or computers in their bedroom. I severely limited the amount of time they spent playing video games or using any electronic device. I directed them to playing games like chess, spending time outside like bike riding, and building things or doing crafts. Those decisions meant I had to give them more hands-on attention and participate with them to keep them focused on positive endeavors. It took more effort than handing them an iPad, but I also got enjoyment because I did things with them that I liked, too.

Of course, that gets exponentially more difficult when children become teenagers and spend so much time away from home. As they’re influenced by others, they spend a lot of time playing video games and scrolling through social media and pushing boundaries, like exploring substances. That generally increases when they go to college, and we wonder what happened to our sweet kids who loved to catch frogs.

Though I got discouraged, I had heard that even if kids lose the good habits we tried to instill, those habits would resurface in adulthood. I’ve now seen proof of this.

My kids’ eating habits have changed again now that they are in their 20s. Though they spent a lot of teen years consuming sugary treats and drinks, they now reach for fruits and vegetables again when they want to snack. They like to cook healthy meals like fish and chicken instead of getting fast food.

This holiday season, I now see the same thing happening with the way they have decided to spend their free time since they moved out this summer.

Both my kids stopped many hobbies they loved as a child after they became teens and started spending so much time online. This year, my 23-year-old daughter asked for books for Christmas. She’s barely read a book in about six years, but now she has a whole list of them she is eager to consume. My 25-year-old son asked for a Lego set for Christmas. He built a ton of these as a boy but hasn’t put one together in about eight years. I’m thrilled to know he’s going to concentrate on a tricky project that takes patience instead of scrolling through more mindless YouTube videos.

Adulthood may seem a long way off when your kids are young, but it is worth it to enforce rules around good habits because you are laying a foundation that will stay with them forever!