Every parent wants their child to be healthy. Of course they do, maybe not everyone knows exactly how to go about this, but every loving parent wants their kids to enjoy the best health possible. This is no easy task because we as parents are not the ones who decide what are children are going to eat and drink. Now yes we do have a very big say in the matter but in the end of the day we can’t force our kids to eat their vegetables and if we try it will most probably backfire on us. So how do we develop healthy habits for our kids? First we need to know, what are the habits we would like to teach our little ones?
1) Drink water – this is one is the top of the list. I know for myself that if I don’t stay well hydrated I have less energy, get frustrated faster, have less patience, am less focused and feel all in all stressed about nothing. I find a lot of times that when one of my boys is particularly winey or upset about little things a cup of water does wonders.
How do we get our kids into the habit of drinking water? What I and my wife have always done is just to always ask them if they are thirsty, in order to teach them to be conscious of their bodies need for water. Show your kids how they can get themselves a cup of water, this makes them feel big, it will save you from having to get them a drink every time and as long as you don’t have carpeted floors your floor will an extra rinse every now and then.
2) Eat your veggies – like all habits it helps to start when the kids are young, but at any age you can always start. I think the best way to get your kids to eat vegetables is to simply cut up some and put them on the table before every meal. Kids anyways love finger food and if they always have cut up fresh cucumbers, carrots and sweet red peppers on the table when they are waiting for dinner they will most probably start eating them.
If you are a new parent and your child is still eating nothing more than baby food then soon is the perfect time to start. When a child starts teething it’s a great thing to give them a cold fresh cucumber two or three inches long sliced in half to chew on, but keep a good eye on them that they don’t gum off a peace that they can choke on.
3) Healthy snacks – this is a real tuff one because kids will always want what their friends are having and not the dried fruit that they are getting at home. But my best advice is to try and make banana chips, raisins, dried pineapples and apricots your childes snack of choice and you may see that their friend are asking them for what they have. Buy plain flavored potatoes chips with no added flavors and preservatives and not all the other snacks that can be loaded with MSG. give your kids sliced apples and pears for snacks and be creative freeze orange juice for natural ices in the summer time.
TEACH BY EXAMPLE – develop healthy habits within yourself and within your home and your children will develop them as well.
Please feel free to comment and add any additional healthy habits and how to pass them on to our kids.
I like!
ReplyDeleteOnce of the tricks I like to try every now and again is to simply stick a few toothpicks into the food. It really is amazing how putting the same food they usually won't go near on the end of a toothpick, makes it magically look appetizing.
Keep the blog posts coming!!
Love how Netz is holding a bag of doritos ;)
ReplyDeleteParenting is the toughest job in the life. My child is 3 year old and he is picky kids which prefer limited food items. I tried and experiment every possible thing to keep him healthy. Above points of healthy eating habits are worth to follow. thanks for sharing this article.
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