Raising a child ‘the right way’ is not easy. It does not help matters that at no point in history did everyone agree on just how children should be raised in the first place! Should you be extremely strict and punish them severely or should you be forgiving and never dole out any punishment? Encourage interests in your child or let them develop their own view of the world with no interference on your part? What about schooling and hobbies? Should you organize everything for them and believe you know best, or hope that they make the right choices on their own? Unfortunately, most of these questions have no definitive answers. However, what everyone can agree on is that children must be kept healthy and happy! To help you do just that, we have compiled a guide on how to set healthy lifestyle examples for your kids: tips and tricks!
Be their role model
The first and most important of our tips is that you should always lead by example! No matter how resistant to your efforts children might seem, parents are always the people we look to for how we should behave at least to some extent. So, you must always try to behave the way you want your children to behave in the future. This means that you should try to keep a healthy diet, regularly exercise, and show interest in learning yourself first before you can expect your child to warm up to the idea of doing so themselves. You cannot just expect them to develop all of these habits spontaneously with just your say-so to inspire them!
Be active together
If you are not sure how to best get your kids to start exercising, and they are resistant to the idea, then maybe you should stop pressuring them! The best way to get through to them in such a situation is to get them the necessary physical activity in a different form. Go on long walks together, organize pickins or get a dog and put them in charge of its walks. You can organize trips to the local pool, or pick up a sport you can engage in together. You can, of course, find a professional trainer for your kids too, but it’s important to find the right one and do it the right way. If you just hand them off to someone else, they will likely view it as a form of abandonment, so find a trainer you can both visit together. This would only encourage your kids more.
Never forbid food groups
You might think you are doing your kids a favor by forbidding them to eat chocolate, fast food or similar. However, you are in fact making the situation worse. If you outright forbid something, even the best behaved child will only feel more tempted to indulge in it. You are well aware yourself of the many times you’ve told your kid not to touch or do something only to catch them doing it a minute later! You should also not make such food a reward for good behavior or eating healthy, since it similarly increases its importance in your kids’ eyes. So, instead, you should try to limit their portions. Instead of a whole chocolate, give them a few pieces. Similarly, you can try making home versions of the food. Making bubble tea at home, for example, makes it much healthier than the version you can buy in a store!
Cook together
A balanced diet is unquestionably important. The trainers at dubaipt.com also stress the importance of a healthy diet when exercising! So, if the issue is your kids’ refusal to eat certain food, don’t worry. There is a trick that might help with that, too! The solution is to include them in the process of making the food. It doesn’t have to be something complicated or dangerous. Have them wash the vegetables before you dice them, or add you the required utensils while you work. You can even have them set the table while the preparations are ongoing, or offer them a chance to mix the salad once you put the toppings on it. If they are included, they will at least feel curious enough to try the fruits of their labor, and overtime will get into the habit of eating the food without prompting!
Make a separate playroom
If you keep your kids’ television, toys and computer inside their room, they are more likely to play late into the night than go to sleep. So, our tip is to organize a separate room into a ‘playroom’ for them. This would serve not only to make sure they are less tempted to stay up, but give them enough space to try various fun indoors activities. If you make the room free of any potential dangers, such as lamps or similar which they can knock over or break, there will also be fewer chances of them getting hurt during play. Of course, if you do not have enough room, the living room can serve just fine as the central playing location!
Organize reading time
It is also important to take into account the mental development of your kids and keep it healthy as well. Reading can help enhance their creativity and imagination, so we recommend you organize a reading every evening before bed. Not only would it serve the purpose of making them interested in books and learning, it will also help them fall asleep better and reduce the chances of nightmares. You can even use their favorite books to get creative with your wall décor and put their favorite characters or scenes on the walls!
Final Word
Ensuring your kids grow up to be healthy and happy adults is the dream of every good parent, and we hope that our guide on how to set healthy lifestyle examples for your kids: tips and tricks will help you do just that! As long as you do your best, we are sure everything will work out just fine for your family.
