With less and less classes in school revolving around health and wellness, it helps that parents know the importance of these topics and take the time to teach it to their children. From a healthy diet to making healthy life choices, it is the parent’s job to make sure that kids make the right decisions.
One of the best ways to do this is to lead by example. Children of all ages learn by watching their parents, and the other people they grow up around. If you are a smoker, it’s likely your child will be a smoker.
Healthy Eating
Children learn their eating habits mainly from their parents. While they can be influenced by television, magazines, and friends, if you instill good eating habits in them early on they are more likely to stick with those good habits.
Teaching kids about eating healthy isn’t just about what they eat, but also how much they eat. Make sure you and your children understand portion control. Look into easy ways to remember these, like the fact that a portion of meat is about the size of a deck of cards.
Healthy food choices include knowing to pick whole grains and lean meats. It helps that they know vegetables are the most important food on the plate. It also helps if you teach them to make healthier snack choices, like picking carrots over potato chips.
Healthy Activities
Teaching kids about healthy activities is more than just about them getting enough exercise. You also want them to participate in activities that enrich their minds and make them think.
Exercise does a lot for the body, and the mind as well. Participating in sports can teach team work and help them be guided in a positive direction. Exercise helps their heart stay healthy, and their lungs too.
Other healthy habits include reading books, which helps with learning and expanding their imagination. It’s also good if they play games that help them with math, reading, writing, or anything else challenging.
Healthy Living
Part of a good lifestyle of health and wellness is living healthy, not just eating and exercising. That means avoiding bad habits like smoking and doing drugs. Again, it helps to lead by example and not do these things yourself.
Teach children about the negative effects of smoking, drinking, and doing drugs. There is plenty of info online, and depending on their age and how much you want to shock them, you can probably find plenty of scary photos showing why all three are bad.
With marijuana in the news so much lately, it can be important to talk about this drug in particular. One article on marijuana and the brain cites studies that have proven this drug can slow down a person’s ability to perform basic physical functions.
Your child wants you to guide them, and even when it seems like they aren’t listening they are. Take every opportunity you can to teach them the rights and wrongs when it comes to living a long and healthy life.
Becky Wilcox is a freelance writer who enjoys writing about beauty, fashion, technology and more. She writes for Life with Lisa as well as several other blogs and websites. Check back soon for more from Becky.
Nice article. Lots of good parenting points.