Healthy Tips for Kids
Your choices as a parent begin before your child is even born. From what to feed them to how to discipline, parenting seems to be one choice after another. The choices you make regarding your child’s health will affect them throughout their life. These are decisions best made with plenty of thought and information. You can help your child develop healthy habits early in life that will bring lifelong benefits. As a parent, you can encourage your kids to evaluate their food choice and physical activity habits. It’s not always easy to encourage your children to eat a balanced diet.
Parents don’t need any degree in health care to keep kids away from several health ailments. To keep kids healthy and fit, all they need is lots of love, understanding, good food and good hygiene practice. It is important to create healthy habits early on. These will help you make smart choices for your family. Children imitate their parents, so it’s important to set a good example.
Parenting has been called the ultimate long-term investment. It’s one of the most complex and challenging jobs you’ll face in your lifetime — and also the most rewarding. Calendars are a great way to remind children of healthy actions they can take each day to promote general wellness. Maintain variety of calendars like Healthy habits and Healthy Activities that you can post in their room, ask children to follow individually or as part of a family project.
Here are important tips for helping them to develop healthy habits at a young age.
Oral Health is Must : Teach your kids to brush at least twice daily with a good fluoride toothpaste to maintain oral health. Ask your child to avoid nibbling foods all day long and avoid intake of any food after brushing your teeth at bedtime.
“Active Play, Every Day”
Your Child Should Get Sunlight : Make sure your child gets enough sunlight in order to be healthy and fit. Sunlight is the natural way of fighting against germs. Enough sunlight will strengthen your child’s bones and prevent osteoporosis later in life. Sunlight can make your child happy, convert cholesterol into vitamin D, reduce body fat and boost the immune system.
Give kids Choices : Parents should let their kids choose foods, fruits, vegetables and snacks they like, within reason. Give them more room to choose as they get older. And never get into a power struggle with your kids about eating, food or even healthy food. Make sure you are not over controlling, over educating or over-lecturing them, or they will rebel in the food arena.
Eat Breakfast : Eating breakfast, even if it’s just a banana and a glass of milk, kick-starts the body and makes it easier to maintain lasting energy throughout the day. If you can get your kids to establish the habit of eating a good breakfast at a young age, it should stay with them as they get older.
Choose Healthier Snacks : It’s easy to reach for chips or biscuits when you and your children feel like nibbling on something, but these snacks tend to be low in nutrients and high in calories. Instead, try to keep your cupboards stocked with healthier snacks such as fruit, air-popped popcorn, unsalted nuts and unsweetened yogurt.
Drink Water : Make water the drink of choice at meal times, and keep juice and sweet drinks as occasional treats. While juice has valuable nutrients and gives a concentrated energy boost for active, growing bodies, kids should go for water first when they are thirsty, not sugar-sweetened drinks.
Eat Together : It’s tempting to eat dinner in front of the television, to wolf down lunch at your desk, and to grab snacks on the run. If you can encourage your children to eat regular meals with you at the table, it can not only reduce snacking, it can also teach valuable social skills.
Slow It Down : Eating slowly is great for weight control at any age. It’s a fantastic way to show kids that it takes about 20 minutes for the message that they are full to get from their stomachs to their brains. As much as we’d love our children to finish their meal in minutes, rather than hours, it’s much more important that they learn to slow down and chew their food properly.
Be Creative : All the vibrant colors in fruit and vegetables come from natural plant chemicals that have healthy effects on our bodies. Different colors have different effects, so it’s good to eat a variety of different colors each day. Offer your kids a colorful snack of different fruits and berries, or chop vegetables into interesting shapes to make them seem more fun and exciting.
“It’s Important to Teach Healthy Habits”
Learn When To Stop : Although children are born with the ability to stop eating when they are full, it can often be hard for parents to judge whether their kids have eaten the right foods, and enough of them.
Teaching children to listen to their tummies and to ask themselves questions about quantity and quality, such as “Is my tummy full?” or “Will I feel sick if I eat those extra biscuits?” will give them the opportunity to develop their ability to sense fullness.
Don’t Give Up : Our research shows that most babies and young children need to try something new seven to ten times before they like it. So don’t be afraid to introduce children to new or more exotic tastes. A good tactic to get kids to eat a wide variety of foods is to tell them that tasting new things is a sign they’re growing up.
Stay Involved : Be an advocate for healthier children. Insist on good food choices at school. Make sure your children’s health care providers are monitoring cardiovascular indicators like BMI, blood pressure and cholesterol. Make your voice heard.
Teach Them To Wash Their Hands Often : The fastest way for your child to fall ill is through eating without washing hands. When your child plays, or touches something, the germs gets transported through that something via the hands to the mouth. Hence, always instill the habit of washing hands regularly in your kids to keep them away from health problems. Plus teach them to never put their hands in their mouth or bite nails.
Exercise Is Essential As Well : Establish exercise habits in your kids as early as possible, say by the age of 5-6. Heavy weight training exercise is not advisable but daily 10-15 minutes of exercises like stretching or brisk walking should be instilled. Exercises like cycling, jumping ropes or swimming should be encouraged in kids.
Don’t Force Your Kid : If your child isn’t hungry, then don’t force your child to eat more. Don’t even bribe him by giving him certain foods just to clear his plate. Instead, serve small portions and let your kid ask independently for more food if he wants.
Too Much Tv, Computer and Mobile isn’t Good : Encourage your child to participate and engage in activities other than sitting in front of the TV, PC or Mobile. Limit screen time so that your child is active and doesn’t bear the risk of increasing body fat. Apart from being fit, your child will also be protected from the harmful effects of the screen.
“Plenty of fresh Air, and Early to bed and Early to Rise”
Set Good Sleep Habits : Making sure your child gets enough sleep is a crucial part of keeping her healthy. Sleep is important not only for a child’s physical and emotional health but it can play an important role in how well she does in school, too.
Be on the lookout for Anxiety / Stress in your child : Homework, tests, social pressures—kids can face a lot of stressful situations every day. Research shows that stress and anxiety can have a negative impact on kids’ health, just like it can on the health of adults. Find out how to spot the symptoms of stress in your child and find ways to manage his anxiety.
“Kids Have You Made Your Pledge “
I pledge to stay healthy and clean through exercise and good Hygiene.
I will eat balanced meal everyday to have more energy to learn and to play
Every night I will get a good rest to be more ready to do my BEST
If I work hard to be healthy and strong I’ll be happier my whole life long