How to Teach Kids Healthy Habits
By Sara Lucero
When it comes to teaching your kids healthy habits, there may not be a manual, but there are some tried and true recommendations that can help you set your children up for success. This tip can help.
If you’re like many of us parents out there, sometimes you wish there were a manual outlining how to best raise your kids. OK, most of the time a manual would be nice. When it comes to teaching your kids healthy habits, there may not be a manual, but there are some tried and true recommendations that can help you set your children up for success. The added bonus is that they usually help the whole family live a healthier lifestyle, too.
Healthy habits aren’t just about weight management, even if obesity is the big headline right now. Creating the right habits from a young age can help kids live a healthy lifestyle that may increase quality of life and lifespan while decreasing their risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, heart disease and more throughout their lives. It may not always be easy to get kids to adopt healthy habits, but who said anything about parenting was easy? A manual wouldn’t even make it easy!
Like I said, there are plenty of recommendations out there from top health experts, but of all the recommendations, it all comes down to just one:
Show Them
We know that kids are sponges. We know that they have a knack for seeing and copying everything we do whether they realize they are or not – mannerisms, tones and, yes, healthy (or not-so-healthy) habits. Use this to your and your child’s advantage by showing them what a healthy lifestyle looks like. Start early and model healthy behaviors often:
• Opt for healthy snacks and make those snacks the family norm.
• Get active and make it fun.
• Make family meals a priority to catch up and connect.
• Order the best choices at restaurants for health.
• Load up meals with fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains.
• Get excited about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle like extra energy and stronger muscles.
It won’t always be easy, but it will be worth it!
How do you show your kids what it looks like to live a healthy lifestyle to teach them lifelong healthy habits?
Find these and more dietitian-recommended choices for the whole family on HealthyDiningFinder.com.