As a parent, you want your children to get the best start in life. It's your job to teach them the skills that will carry them to success, after all. But as any parent knows, it can be tough to determine how best to instill these values. That's why we're taking a moment today to give you a few tips on instilling healthy habits in your kids. Let's get started.
Fun with Fitness
If you're not introduced to fitness in a fun way at a young age, it's easy to see it as a chore when you get older. In reality, bodies are designed to be active! And the best way to help your child stay active throughout their life is to show them how fun it can be. Consider activities like rollerblading or dancing. Not only are these activities fun, they present a great opportunity to get the whole family involved. When you think about the fact that a fun activity like dancing for at least 30 minutes four times per week can help promote full body conditioning, it's easy to want to get started.
Demonstrate Healthy Behaviors
Part of building healthy habits is having a support system to develop them in. When the whole family is involved, it becomes easier for children to model their behavior. So while your child might not understand that the risk for heart disease decreased 50% when people cycled 20 miles a week, they'll understand that you enjoy cycling and they might, too. Remember: good habits start with you as a parent! Once your child sees that you live your life a certain way and you're happy about it, they'll start to put the pieces together.
Food Habits Matter
Healthy food habits don't always involve strict diets. While your child needs fruits and veggies in their life, they also need a healthy relationship with their food. Teaching your child that how they feel when they eat food matters is crucial. Being honest about how food makes you feel is a great place to start. So ice cream makes you feel good and onions make you feel bad. Be honest with your kids! This, in turn, will help them be honest about how certain foods make them feel. In addition, educating your child about where the foods they're eating came from can be a fun family activity. For instance, taco night might mean talking about how tomatoes and chilies were first domestically grown in Latin America. Building your child's relationship with food can help them create good eating habits later on in life based on nourishing their bodies, not diets and fads.
Parenting can be a challenge at times, but when you think about building a positive future for your children, the little struggles are always worth it. Are you ready to start building the foundation for healthy habits in your kids?
