Most of you know how difficult it is to make major life changes in adulthood. From changing your eating habits to the amount of physical activity you get in a day – it takes a huge commitment to make a it happen. This is why, as parents, it’s of the utmost importance to raise your kids with these healthy lifestyle ideologies burned into their brains. Children are very susceptible to the influences of their parents which puts even more responsibility on mothers and fathers to promote health and wellbeing from a very young age. Let’s look at a few simple tips that all parents should take heed of.
Pay it forward
Why is this so important? The answer is simple – getting your kids involved with healthy habits at young ages will put them on the right track to avoid heart disease, cancer and a host of other issues that face adults who have lived an entire sedentary life full of unhealthy decisions. If that isn’t reason enough, what will it take?
Eat right
Your children are not cooking their own meals, which gives you the responsibility of giving them healthy things to eat on a regular basis. Provide them healthy, well balanced meals and even allow some junk food here and there (helps to avoid a rebellious binge eating phase later on). Your kids might not understand it at the time, but limiting their junk food and snacks at young ages will stick with them later on in life.
When giving food to your kids, give them less than what you expect them to eat and if they want more – great! Most kids will stop when they are full. Aside from cooking healthy food, explain in simple terms the value of eating right as well as the dangers of a lifetime of unhealthy foods. When they fly the nest and finally can make their own decisions the diet choices and wisdom you shared with them should at least serve as guideline for their own lives.
Time to play!
While it is almost inevitable that your kids will find some interest in computers, television shows or video games – limit the amount of time they can spend glued to the TV and encourage them to play games outside with friends or get involved with sports. Kids should get a minimum of an hour of moderate or higher level physical activity every day. Children who exercise a lot have higher life expectancies and typically avoid being overweight. Sufficient exercise has also been linked to better academic standing. Aside from the exercise, the social benefits of interacting with people over a screen never hurt anybody.
Healthy investments
When thinking about a healthy life for your child, cord blood banks may not immediately cross your mind – but they should. This is something that you have to think about before even giving birth but could definitely change your child’s life forever. Stem cells from cord blood and tissue are extracted just after birth from the cut umbilical cord and can be used in a multitude of treatments. The stem cells can regenerate damaged tissues and encourage a body’s organs to heal essentially themselves. Diseases from leukemia to lymphoma and all the way to sickle cell anemia have been effectively treated with cord blood. Take a look at some private cord blood banks like Familycord for what could be a life saving investment for your child.
Be the role model
As a parent, you should strive to be the person that you want your kids to grow up to be. Eat healthy yourself, exercise whenever you can and simply exhibit the qualities that you hope your children grow up with. Lastly, bad habits need to be kicked as soon as possible because waiting longer only makes it harder to encourage a lifestyle change. Good luck, and happy parenting!
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