Health And Kids: Teach Them To Be Healthy

What are the two most vital components in teaching our kids about health and healthy living? The first is understanding that a healthy lifestyle is the key to optimal health. The next is using that healthy lifestyle as a focal point to make sound decisions about the choices and behavioral attitudes kids make.

Healthy Eating

It’s common knowledge that childhood obesity rates are among the highest they’ve ever been. That means that you, as the parent or caregiver, need to provide healthy food choices for your children to select from. You can teach kids to make wise choices at home and when they eat out at restaurants, including fast food places. Emphasize that protein is an essential part of a healthy diet and that poultry, meat, and fish all contain high levels of protein. Teach them that protein works similar to the way fuel works in a train or other vehicle-their bodies need it in order to function properly and keep them going.

Make the side dishes your children make, a healthy choice as well. Rice, pasta, and potatoes are good sources. Fruits and vegetables are good also. Grains on the other hand are best. Help them to understand the potions sizes of these sources. Carbs are also important in our kids diet. But help them to understand that not all carbs are good for them. Teach them which carbs are good and which ones are bad so they can they make better decision about the selections they eat.

Remember, that a healthy diet does include some fats, so you don’t want to eliminate them entirely. Your kids can have some sugar. Just don’t overdue it.

Exercise And Health

In days past children played outdoors in the neighborhood until darkness forced them indoors. But these days things are a lot different. Safety concerns make many parents reluctant to let children play outside without adult supervision. Adults are busier than ever, and most families have two parents who work outside the home. Days are more hectic, and extracurricular activities are more likely to be scheduled for the children, too. There just isn’t as much unstructured playtime.

When kids do have free time, kids these days are frequently involved in sedentary activities like gaming, computer time, or watching television. There are some innovative video games that promote healthy activities as a part of the experience, and this is a great way to incorporate exercise with gaming; however, the majority of video games are still sit and play games.

One of the best ways to teach children about healthy exercise is to engage them in healthy, fun activities.

Get them outside playing on the swings and the slides, running around chasing each other, and playing tag and other active games that will get the heart pumping. Let them climb trees and monkey bars. Encourage skating and jumping rope. Take bike rides and walks together to create memories and instill lifelong healthy habits.

Healthy Hygiene

When your kids were tiny, most loved bath time. They couldn’t get enough of their time in the water with their bubbles and toys. Back then, you were pretty much in charge of ensuring that they came out of the tub sparkling clean and shiny, though, so there wasn’t a lot of hassle about bathing. Unfortunately, most kids hit a stage when you need to monitor their bathing habits or they’ll skip bathing altogether.

Both girls and boys hit a point where getting them to take a bath or a shower is something akin to torture. Then they emerge from the bathroom barely wet with dry hair, dirty fingernails, and re-dressed in the same clothes. They seem unaware that they need to develop good hygiene habits so they don’t smell bad and get teased by classmates. As the caregiver, you need to teach them how to wash properly.

Teach your kids how to use a washcloth and how to wash each body part. Start teaching your kids when they are young so when they reach that anti bathing stage, they will resist the “I do Not Feel Like Taking A Bath”. Also instruct by making sure they clean between the toes and all body crevices. And yes this includes washing behind the ears! Also, show them how to message their scalp and working up the suds to wash the hair. Teaching how to dry off is just as important.

One more important aspect to teach is proper dental care. Kids need to be taught how to brush as well as floss at a young age. Learning how to rinse by using mouthwash is vital as well and should be instituted. Using these models early in life will benefit your children for years to come.

We Are Parents

Parents need to take their parenting responsibilities seriously. In addition to teaching them about eating right, exercising, and proper hygiene, they need to model all of these healthy behaviors personally. They also need to talk with their children-and listen-so they can help them avoid the negative influences of others and prevent them from adopting bad habits like smoking, drinking, or drugs.

Responsibility should also be taught to our kids. Examples would be to learn how to do the laundry, household chores as well. Teaching our kids these things will be of importance down the road for when they grow up and are out on their own.

Warren D. Griffin writes articles on fitness, health, and nutrition. Teaching kids about health is important. Find out how to teach kids about health and obesity. My new book teaches parents how to defeat childhood obesity for better health!