Children aren’t just for knowing the wrong and right things that they need to do and eat in order to lead a healthy lifestyle. Everything that they come to learn are things that they will learn from their parents.
It is important that parents help their children to learn the proper healthy habits for an active and healthy lifestyle. While most things children pick up on by following their parent’s lead there are somethings that they need to be shown and taught by word of mouth and action.
We will provide you with the top 10 healthy habits that every single parent needs to teach their children for them to lead a great and active lifestyle. Hopefully, your already implementing some if not all of the tips we will provide you with today.
1. Make eating a colorful experience
When your children begin to eat different foods not only does the taste matter as far as appealing to your child the color appeals to them as well. The best way to get your child to understand what is and isn’t good for them to eat is by showing them that adding lots of color to your plate is the best way to eat. If your unsure of what could be the most colorful and best baby food for your child check this link out and hopefully you find some clarity in the food department.
2. Get up and get active
You and your children shouldn’t waste time becoming couch potatoes. You need to grab your child, turn off the television, and put down all other electronic devices and go outside as a family. Not only is this great bonding time for you and your child it can also prevent a ton of health issues from popping up in the future and help you with maintaining a healthy weight. Being a couch potato can cause behavioral issues socially and emotionally as well as attention issues, obesity and many other problems.
3. Eat breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and you can see why it’s in the name. It’s important because you are breaking the overnight fast that your bad undertook when you went to sleep the night before. Eating breakfast not only kick start’s your child’s brain for the day ahead it also deters chronic diseases and helps to keep your child strong and healthy.
4. Pick activities you enjoy
Every child should do some sort of exercise. However, when you tell them it is an exercise you may receive some sort of kickback from them when it comes time to actually completing the activity. An activity that you and your children love to do will make the activity more about having fun rather than focusing so much on exercise. Your children won’t even realize that they are exercising.
5. Encourage reading
So often children are quick to hop on the internet and look up answers to questions rather than really learning about something. Encourage your children to read a book. Allowing your child to read to you will help them to build their self-esteem and gain self-confidence when it comes to reading out loud in front of and to people. Allow your children to choose their own books so that they see reading as something to look forward to rather than a chore.
6. Drink water
Encouraging your children to drink water will help them to stay hydrated throughout the day. Drinking water will allow your child to feel more awake and ready to take on the day. Water can also be used to help clear up acne that your children may be experiencing.
Soft drinks aren’t good for your children and contain high amounts of sugar that they don’t need to ingest on a daily basis.
7. Check the label
When your out on a shopping trip make sure that you check the food label. Just because it looks and says it is organic doesn’t necessarily mean that it is great for you. Most brands that claim to make healthy food substitute one thing for another.
Where they remove excess sugar a brand may make up for it by adding sodium. And they cover it up by using tricky language on the label so always check the label for ingredients and a break down of calories per serving size.
8. Family dinner
This is a good habit that allows families to gather together at the end of the day and share time together. Family dinners have statistically proven to lessen depression and obesity in children because they feel heard and listened to by their parents.
Family dinners also allow families to have more nutritious and healthy dinners when it is done together. As well as helps with portion control. Get cooking and enjoy your meal around the dinner table.
9. Have friends
Having friends their own age will help your child to continue developing their social skills. Social skills are an important part of your child’s mental health and can keep them from feeling alone which can lead to cases of depression and even worse.
Having friends teaches your child how to communicate with other children, learn problem-solving skills, and learn to cooperate with others. Having friends can also positively affect your child’s performance when they are at school.
And sometimes they can talk to their friends about things that they can’t bring themselves to talk to their parents about.
10. Be positive
The most important thing your child needs from you is for you to be positive with them. And if you do need to offer criticism offer it in a way that it can be taken constructively and doesn’t come from a place of sarcasm that is meant to make your child feel demeaned in any way.
Positivity can be the difference between your child going out for the school musical and showcasing their talents and them shutting themselves away in their room for the next four years. Positively also has been shown to impact a person’s overall health and wellbeing.
Tiffany Simmons
Guest Blogger
Tiffany Simmons is a Georgia mom, wife, and aspiring children’s book writer. Acquiring a BS in Mass Communications & Marketing from the University of West Ga. Leaving a job in the healthcare profession to become a writer for childmode.com!
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