If you want to children to do well in school and grow up strong, then they need to be raised in a wholesome environment. That means going through your household and your family’s habits for ways to encourage better living.
Here are 4 key areas that you can investigate to keep your kids healthy and strong.
Healthy Eating
Kids eat plenty of starch, fat, and sugar throughout the day, which means they’re not getting enough protein or dietary fiber. They’ll be putting themselves at risk for conditions like obesity and diabetes, which are affecting a growing number of children at an early age.
To combat this trend, focus on reducing snacks and sugary foods. Offer alternatives like fruits and vegetables. Maybe you put out a bowl of fruit for kids to snack on during the day or maybe you put a box of raisins in your child’s lunchbox before they leave for school. You should also reduce their consumption of soda and instead steer them toward bottled water, milk, and fruit juice.
Dental Care
While loose teeth and getting fitted for braces are a natural part of growing up, there are issues that you can prevent, like cavities and tooth decay. Besides cutting down on sugary snacks, you can encourage your children to brush and floss twice a day. Make sure that your children use a safe fluoride toothpaste and rinse their mouths with non-alcoholic mouthwash. And don’t forget to schedule a visit to the dentist every six months.
Physical Fitness
With entertainment readily available on the TV or online, it’s hard to motivate kids to not sit in front of a screen all the time. But what do you have to offer instead?
The key isn’t to ban TV or time on the computer, but to moderate it. Allow your child no more than 30 minutes in front of a screen at a time. Schedule regular breaks for getting up and moving around, even if it’s just for a walk outside. Ask your children what sports or outdoor fitness they might be interested in trying, like softball or hiking.
Smoking and Tobacco
Even if someone in the household is an infrequent smoker, exposing children to any kind of secondhand smoke can be dangerous. Besides the possibility of lung cancer, they may also develop breathing issues, which can keep them out of sports and other ways of staying fit. The only way to protect children is to keep them away from indoor smoke, both in the home and in the car.
Image: Army Medicine on flickr
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