As a parent, you only want what is best for your children, and encouraging them to stay fit and healthy can feel like a real uphill battle, especially if you struggle with staying healthyyourself. There are so many aspects of our lives that we need to keep an eye on to make sure we’re coping well, both physically and mentally, including our diets, exercise, physical health, and emotional and mental health among other things. To help you to inspire your children to pursue a healthier lifestyle, and to help you to follow suit, we’ve put together a guide of our best advice across a range of these health-related topics.
Encourage Kids To Try More Foods
Many parents experience the constant battle of trying to get their children to eat a more varied diet, especially when it comes to fruit and vegetables. It’s easy to fall into the hole of ready meals and easy to cook, processed foods like chicken nuggets and oven chips, which lead you to need a dentist London, but while these are okay to eat every now and again, you should endeavour to create some healthy, fresh meals as often as possible. One great way of getting your children to try foods that they’d usually turn their noses up at, is by getting them to prepare a meal themselves.
Depending on their age, you’ll want to supervise and do any of the more dangerous tasks such as chopping but allow them to dictate the process. Children watching the whole process of meal preparation are much more likely to feel happier with trying the dish they’ve helped to create. One of the main reasons that kids are likely to refuse food is an evolutionary trait. We are naturally opposed to trying new foods from an instinctive fear of unfamiliar foods potentially being poisonous. It’s an inherent survival instinct but it can be trained out of children by getting them familiar with the ingredients.
Eating A Balanced Diet
Getting rid of this mentality of refusing to try new foods makes it much easier for you to get your children to eat a balanced diet. This is especially important for kids as they’re constantly developing and ensuring that they are consuming the right amount of protein and useful vitamins and minerals to assist in this process. Children need a lot of nutrients for their bodies to develop correctly, and if they lack these nutrients, it can seriously impact their overall health as they grow. Fruits and vegetables, proteins, starchy foods, dairy products, and even sugars and fats are all important in their own way for your children.
Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from allowing your child to have a specific dietary requirement, such as being vegetarian or vegan and these diets can be incredibly healthy. However, you’ll want to make sure they’re getting the right nutrients that they may start to lack from not eating animal products. This includes vitamin b, iron, and calcium. You can find these in some vegetables, but a great way of getting these essential nutrients into their diet would be to add a multivitamin supplement to their diet.
Setting A Good Example With Food
When dealing with the topic of food, it’s all well and good telling your child to eat properly, but if you’re then eating an unhealthy diet, you might find they could begin to question why you don’t eat the same foods. Children are impressionable too and you might find that your bad habits with food could be adopted by your children. Instead, make sure you follow your own rules about food and improve your diet alongside your children’s diets.
Eradicate Your Child’s Fear Of The Dentist
Unfortunately, there is a fear of the dentist for many children, and this often stays with them into adulthood. This fear can be caused by a number of factors from the pain felt from treatments, the noise of the tools that dentists use, and the generally invasive nature and setting of being at the dentist. Getting your child accustomed to the dentist and dental care is essential as a step towards eradicating these fears. This blogpost discusses the importance of the tooth fairy, for example, which is a centuries-old mythological concept spanning across many cultures.
Today, parents often trade their children’s teeth for a reward, which is usually money, and claim that the tooth fairy is the one that made this trade. This mystical story is a means of relaxing children when losing their teeth and helping them to deal with this potentially traumatic experience. Methods like this are a great way of easing general fears surrounding dental health, including dentist visits, as it adds a sense of magic to the topic.
Why Visit The Dentist?
Certain foods, especially processed ones, can significantly harm our teeth and gums, especially if we don’t take good care of them. One of the best ways in which you can ensure your child is getting the best quality dental care is to have regular dental check-ups with your dentist. It’s very important for all of us to visit our dentists regularly so that they can identify any potential dental health issues and to also catch more serious diseases like cancers before they develop too much.
When it comes to our children, these check-ups are far more vital as their mouths and teeth are growing and developing. It’s not uncommon for children to require corrective treatments such as braces to ensure their teeth grow straight and your dentist will be able to notice any potential problems so that you can act quickly to correct things.
Regular Doctor Check-ups
Similar to visiting the dentist, having regular check-ups with your doctor is also a great idea, especially for your children. As children grow, they can also develop certain illnesses and diseases, and they may not be able to properly convey symptoms that would otherwise give you cause for concern. Instead, having an annual check-up for your kids is a great way of allaying any fears. Your doctor can check everything from their height and weight, their eyes, ears, and throat, and also analyse their blood to detect any potential issues that may need looking into.
Making Exercise Fun
As well as adopting a good diet, you’ll want to make sure your children are getting plenty of exercises too. Allowing your kids to get outside and play with their friends is a great way of helping them to get some easy exercise, but this prevents you from being able to be certain they’re getting enough of the right activities in their routine. A good mixture of cardio as well as all-around strength and agility building exercises will help in their development, as cardiovascular activities like running and walking will strengthen their heart muscles, and sports like martial arts, football, and gymnastics will help with their strength and agility, improving the quality of the muscles and bones.
Find Your Fitness
The best way to encourage your children to stay fit and healthy is, again, to set an example. Find a sport that you all enjoy and take some time out of your week to do this as a family. As well as improving physical health, sports and exercise are a means of improving mental health too, as they’re stimulating and enjoyable. Maybe take up playing tennis or football together. Not only will this help to encourage you all to get out and keep fit, but it can also help you to bond and become a stronger family unit.
