Helping your Kids Make Healthy Choices
It’s never too late to start making healthy lifestyle choices. However, starting young and instilling healthful habits at an early age makes it easier to maintain throughout their entire lives. Educating children, even at young ages does not have to be onerous; it can be a fun family activity to work on together. There are three key topics to choose from:
- MOVING
Instilling the importance of moving their bodies every day, throughout the day is key for muscle development, strengthening bones and improving heart and lung function. It also helps with stress relief, and enhances attention and focus.
Example: Turn up their favorite tunes and guide them or join them in the following:
Warm up stretches – arm circles, shoulder shrugs, torso twists, knee hugs, bum kicks
Cardio – 30 – 60 seconds of: jog on the spot, skip, star jumps, skaters, jumping jacks, frog jumps, burpees, side shuffles (this can be repeated)
Strength – 30-60 seconds of: pushups, squats, calf raises, superman/girls, crunches
Yoga – check out this site for excellent and fun child appropriate yoga poses which are great for developing strength and breath work.
- HYDRATING
With more than half their body weight being water, it’s very important that kids drink just that, water. A great (and fun for the kids) way to teach them if they’re hydrated enough is to discuss the color of their pee. Using this Pee color chart, your kids will find this topic not only amusing but also memorable and they will actually tell you if they need to drink more water. To go along with this, a fun family activity is keeping track of how many glasses of water everyone drinks daily.
3. FOOD CHOICES
Using this visual aid, by dividing their plates into sections, they will very readily be able to visualize just how much of the different types of foods they should be eating each meal. Half of the entire plate should be fruits and veg; the other half should be divided into 2; ¼ for protein and a ¼ for complex grains. Lastly, they will need some form of calcium for strong bones (think dairy). Remind them to “Eat the Rainbow” – the more colorful the choices, the better for them.
Integrating healthy habits in your young kids doesn’t have to get technical and boring. Make it fun and interesting; an interactive family group project that also allows your kids autonomy over their daily life choices, which will ensure these healthy habits, will last a lifetime.
