Health And Kids: Teach Them To Be Healthy

Teaching kids about health and healthy living involves two key components. The first component is to teach kids about healthy lifestyles. The second component is to model a healthy lifestyle in your own choices and behaviors.

Eating Healthy

Obesity rate in today's children are at an all time high. This means that we as proud parents need to emphasize to our kids that by providing healthy food choices are important to their health. Make the choices our kids make at home or when dining out good solid ones by providing healthy menus for them to choose from. Let them know that protein is important to their diet. Protein works like the spark plugs in our car. They give the engine the boost to create more energy to run efficient just like proteins does for the body.

Teach kids about healthy choices for side dishes, as well. Carbohydrates are another important part of a child's diet, but there are both good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates, so they should be taught which are the best carb choices when making their selections. Fruits and vegetables are the best sources. Pasta, rice, and potatoes are good choices, too, but whole grains are the best. A proper serving size for these items is approximately cup. You will need to show children how much that actually is, and the best way to do that is to demonstrate it by serving portions of that size.

Please not that some fats should be included in our diet. Do not get rid of them as a whole. I am not a big fan of sugars, but some sugar is ok just don't let your children over indulge.

Healthy Exercise

Back when we were kids, we used to play outdoors until our parents called us to come inside. Safety is the concern of today's parent which is why most kids are not outside playing with their friends. Parents are becoming even busier and most households that have two parents usually work outside the home in which scheduling needs to be penciled. There just isn't enough time made for extra activities.

When children do have free time these days, they are more involved in stuff like gaming, computer time, or watching the tube. Although there are some video games that are geared to promote healthy activities. This is a great way to get children to exercise while using the gaming equipment. but still, video games are still a sit and play type of game.

The best way to teach kids when it comes to healthy exercise is to allow them to participate in fun healthy activities.

Let's get our kids back outside to playing the old fashion way by using the swings and slides, chasing one another, and playing the old game of tag. This alone will get the heart pumping. Skating and jumping rope as well as riding a bike and walks in the park will ensure healthy habits.

Teaching 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.

There comes a point in our kids life when taking a bath or shower is a daunting task. Sometimes they are lazy about washing thoroughly. Some seen unaware that they need good hygiene habits. We as parents should teach our children how to bathe themselves for healthy hygiene.

Teaching your children how to use a washcloth is important as well. Try to start by helping them to understand they need to wash behind the ears, and in all body crevices. Also how to wash the hair by using the fingertips to message to scalp to work the suds that wash the hair. Did you know that learning how to properly dry off is equally 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.

Be the Parent

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.

Parents need to be sure their children get adequate sleep each night for healthy bodies and minds. They also need to teach them responsibility with household chores, so they can become responsible people.

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