How to Teach Your Kids to Live a Healthy Lifestyle
You teach your child skills and values every day -- how to get dressed, be a friend, ride a bike. You may not realize it, but you also teach your child how to make choices regarding her health, including what to eat, how to stay active and how to manage stress. Teaching your child healthy habits at an early age helps her achieve and stay at a healthy weight, avoid major health problems and feel better about herself. By getting the whole family on the healthy lifestyle bandwagon, you set your child up for a healthy future.
Instructions
Model healthy choices in your own daily activities so your kids learn how to do the same. Talk to your child about why you do certain things, such as exercising, buying fresh produce at the supermarket and choosing a healthy snack over junk food. Seeing the actions and hearing the reasoning behind those actions helps your child better understand healthy choices. Increase the entire family's activity level. Plan active events for the family, such as a walking tour of your city, a hike in the forest or paddle boating. Motivate everyone to move more by tracking the exercise you get each day. Challenge your kids to see who can squeeze in the most activity in a day. WebMD suggests outfitting the whole family with pedometers to encourage increased activity levels. Unplug electronic devices -- TVs, computers, video games, cellphones -- for the majority of the day. HealthyChildren.org offers the guideline of one to two hours daily for entertainment screen time and also recommends that screen time be spent on educational and nonviolent media. Spending less time on electronic devices allows your family to become more active and healthier. Stock the house with healthy foods so your child is better able to make healthy eating choices. Leave healthy snack options out where your child can reach them. Making the nutritious snacks convenient means your child is more likely to reach for them. Invite your child to help you plan healthy menus for the family meals. This way, he gets practice actually making healthy choices instead of just eating the healthy food you put in front of him. Add new dishes to the menu rotation, even if your child says he doesn't like some of the ingredients. Teach your child how to handle stress in a healthy way. Keep your own stress in check by staying organized, using relaxation techniques and prioritizing your responsibilities. Show your child how to relax during stressful times with breathing, muscle relaxation and visualization.