Raising Healthy Children: Keep It Simple!
By Genevieve Cunningham
If you're not worried about your children's health, are you even a parent? Worry seems to go hand-in-hand with having kids. We worry about everything from everyday illness to their exercise habits to their mental well-being. We want our kids to be healthy and happy. Sometimes in our well-meaning worry, we make the process of good health really complicated, but good health can be simple. If you would like to put your children on the path to long-term health and happiness, take a look at these simple ways to set them up for life.
Focus on Family Exercise
When it comes to kids, it really is monkey see, monkey do. Movement is important, but if you want kids to move, you have to move first. Start an exercise routine. It can be simple walking, a class, or a brand new membership at the gym. Whatever you choose, take your kids with you. Let them see you move, and then encourage them to move too. Over time, movement will become normal and a family staple that keeps everyone in better overall health.
Focus on the Right Diet Choices
If you let kids do what they want, they'll eat junk all the time. They'll eat chips, pizza, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, french fries. The last thing they'll choose is vegetables. This is why it's so important to make nutrition a topic of conversation. Talk to your children about good food, and then include them in the planning, shopping, and cooking. This can be tedious for the adults in the family, but if you start now, you'll have kids who actually enjoy eating healthy by the time they're adults themselves. And in this scenario, everyone wins.
Focus on Communication
While physical health is obviously important, mental health is also critical to the well-being of your children. And one of the best things you can do for your children is to simply open up the lines of communication. You want your kids to feel like they can tell you whatever is on their mind. While they're small, the problems will likely be small. But as they get older, this open communication in your home can save them when their problems get bigger and affect their lives. Start now and their mental health will be better off in the long run.
There are a few keys to helping your kids be healthy. Keep it simple, make it a family priority, and start now! If you do these things and use these tips, you'll be setting up your children -- and your whole family -- for better health right now and moving into the future.
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Chapel Hill, N.C.