Parents and good parenting play an important role in the health and development of the Little One. Therefore, it is important for parents to educate and familiarize their children with healthy living from a young age.
Infrequent exercise and eating less nutritious foods can make children suffer from various health problems, such as obesity, heart disease, to type 2 diabetes later in life. So that children are healthy, Mother can teach them how to live healthy from an early age.
Teaching Healthy Living Habits to Children
It takes time and patience to encourage children to get used to living a healthy life. However, the earlier good habits are applied, the more likely the baby will be a healthy child.
When teaching children a healthy lifestyle, you need to pay attention to the following things:
1. Be a role model
The best way to invite your little one to be a healthy child is to be an example. Children will imitate or imitate what their parents did.
Therefore, show your child that you are diligent in exercising and eating healthy foods consistently. Giving messages through actions will be more memorable for children than just orders or nagging.
2. Slowly but surely
When applying healthy habits to children, it’s better to start with simple but consistent steps rather than focusing on big changes in a short time.
For example, take your child for a bike ride every afternoon or on weekends. Or, you can also invite your child to cook healthy food together instead of ordering ready-to-eat food.
3. Involve all family members
Creating healthy habits in children will be easier if all family members are also involved. Therefore, this program should not only be given to children.
Involve the whole family. This can be started from having dinner together with a healthy menu and exercising together.
4. Know what to eat
So that children are healthy, Mother can also invite them to read food and drink labels so that children learn, understand, and are aware of what is good for consumption and what is not.
Physical Activity for Healthy Children
One of the conditions for realizing a healthy child is to make the little one move diligently. Some of the things below can be done to encourage your little one to do regular physical activity:
- Limiting children’s time to watch TV and play on the computer, video gamesor other devices to two hours per day
- Introduce simple physical activities such as cleaning the house, taking the pets for a walk, gardening, taking a leisurely walk in the park, cycling, or playing hide and seek
- Allowing children to experiment with various physical activities until they find one they really like, then they will be motivated to move their body
- Once your child finds an activity they enjoy, encourage them to do it for 30–60 minutes every day
- Balancing calorie intake with activities the child does
In addition to exercising, don’t forget to get your child used to drinking lots of water, eating fresh vegetables and fruit, and avoiding foods and drinks that contain a lot of sugar and salt.
Getting used to good activities so that children are healthy, of course, takes time and patience. If necessary, the mother can consult a doctor about the health and development of the child during routine health checks.
