Keeping Your Kids Healthy and Fit
By Paul Trevino
Healthy living and being physically fit is a common issue that adults are focused on in their everyday life. At times, the goals and standards are so high, and it becomes hard to achieve everything. You don’t have to wait until your kids turn to adults to start seeking fitness and healthy habits. You can start observing their exercise and eating habits as early to get them on track throughout. Make the right choices for the family and ensure your child feels like part of the habit to bring the difference. You don’t need to push them into gyms and radical plans for weight loss. Here are a few tips to help you keep your kids fit and healthy.
Lead as an example
It’s not easy to tell your baby what to eat and what not to eat if personally, you can’t stay away from that. Kids will always follow in your footsteps. If you want them to stay away from junk foods and other unhealthy snacks, then you should be ready to let go. If you wish your kids to be physically fit, be willing to hit the road every morning for a brisk jogging session. Gradually, you will attract them to your habits, and it will not be hard to instill a routine for them. As a parent, you should be their leader and not an instructor.
Eat as a family
Eating together as a family lowers the risks of obesity and gives the family better diets. Eating at home involves cooking your meals, which makes it easy to control your menu. Another advantage of eating as a family is that kids get time to concentrate on eating over doing other things. This way, it will be easy to regulate the amount of food they eat. When they eat alone, the chances of overeating or under eating are high.
Make time for sleep
When kids are tired, they get moody and cranky. They may not have the energy to make right choices even with the simplest tasks as choosing water over a glass of soda. Therefore, it’s good to make a routine bedtime for the family. Good sleep lowers the risks of weight gain and other chronic diseases. When you sleep, your body releases healthy hormones and relaxes the mind for proper planning for the next day. Sleeping is critical for children and adults too. During bedtime, the brain can rewind of the day’s activities, which makes it possible for the kid to remember what they learned during the day at school.
Make exercising interesting
It may not be easy to make your children work out. However, you can make them love it and feel it’s interesting. Instead of encouraging them to run, you can use activity trackers or pedometers to get them to track their steps. Encourage them to compete with you and see who takes more steps. This will be interesting and playful, but in the end, your kids will be physically fit and healthy before they know it.
Let them participate
As you formulate the healthy habits, it’s good to ensure that your children are part of the plan. Let them bring their diet ideas onboard. Evaluate their needs and wants for you to have a proper plan as a team. When they get home from school in the evening, let them choose on what they should do over sitting behind the TV screens. Teach them how to cook. This way, they will learn the importance of nutritional eating faster and easier.
Be consistent
Don’t just start on a habit and stop overnight. Be consistent; ensure that your kids get the right vitamins for healthy growth. Keep a record of what you have been able to achieve as a family every day. Come up with a family menu and balance the diets for the whole week. Continue with tracking your steps even when your kids feel like they can’t do it anymore. If you don’t give up, they will be motivated to continue since every kid wants to be the only winner.
However, as you plan to keep your kids fit and healthy, you should not push them beyond their elasticity. Respect their choices. When the child is full, don’t force them to finish everything on their plates. Additionally, even if they don’t like those nutritious staffs, don’t ever be tired of serving them healthy meals.