How To Build A Puzzle (as taught to a 2 year old)

A couple of weeks ago I bought Drew a Thomas the Train 35 piece puzzle. He was so excited to put it together when we got home. I opened the box, poured out the pieces, and he said, "what do we do now?" I told him to find all of the pieces of Thomas and put Thomas together first. Then work from there to complete the puzzle. He followed my directions and, with a little help, he completed the puzzle in about 5 minutes. I then bought him three more Thomas the Train puzzles and we were putting them together last night using the same strategy. I didn't realize until this morning, when I heard Drew and his daddy putting together the puzzles, that I taught him to put the puzzle together in a completely different way than I had been taught so many years ago. I was always taught to find all of the outside border pieces and put them together first. Then fill in the middle. I think this is a perfect way to illustrate my point about diet versus lifestyle change. A diet comes in a box and has a lot of parameters. You can eat this... You can NOT eat this... You must do this... Everywhere you turn, there are rules and borders. It is very hard to stick to and accomplish long-term change with a diet because you are simply following rules and you can not see how all of the pieces come together to make the picture. However, with a lifestyle change, you start with what you know- yourself- and work out from there. As you grow and learn more about a healthier lifestyle, the picture begins to come into view. There are no borders or parameters other than the ones that you place on yourself. There are thousands of ways to MOVE YOUR BODY, burn calories, and get exercise. Likewise, there are ways to incorporate your favorite treats into a healthy lifestyle. When you are ready, start from the middle and you will build a picture more beautiful than any box could ever present!