Disclosure – This is a collaborative post
As a parent, it is entirely natural for you to want your children to be as healthy as possible. All parents want the best for their children and for them to develop healthy habits. Unfortunately, even though many mums and dads start with good intentions, sometimes life gets in the way and makes it difficult to maintain as many of those healthy habits as they would like. Trying to juggle working, taking care of the house, looking after younger children, and cooking is not easy. All this rushing around can leave many parents with very little spare time, making it harder to encourage healthy habits all the time. It is crucial to remember that no family is perfect, and putting pressure on yourself to be perfect is unhealthy. So, it is essential to be realistic and acknowledge that you are doing your best to give your kids a healthy start in life.
If you are looking for suggestions on how you can help to encourage healthier habits for your family, then these tips should help:
Staying Hydrated
Do you find it hard to get your kids to drink enough water? Staying hydrated is essential for health, but all too often, kids forget to drink during the day, especially when they are at school. If you struggle to get your kids to drink enough, there are a few things that you can try to encourage them to stay hydrated. Firstly, you could try letting them each choose brand new drink bottles. If they have a cool bottle that they want to show their friends at school, they will be more likely to drink out of it. Secondly, while the kids are at home, you could try making fresh fruit smoothies for them. Making smoothies is a great idea if your kids are reluctant to drink plain water, with the bonus that they will get some of their five a day too!
Healthy Mealtimes
Mealtimes with kids, particularly younger ones, can be a real battle. Having fussy eaters in your household can make mealtimes a real challenge, especially if you try to cater to everyone’s differing tastes.
Many children are happier to eat a meal if they have helped to prepare it. Most children love to cook, so helping to create a meal for the whole family is an excellent way to get them more involved in mealtimes and more likely to eat the food they are served.
Make Exercise Part of Your Routine
If you are short of free time but are keen to keep the kids as active as possible, then you may find it helpful to try to make exercise a part of your daily routine. This is so much easier to do than trying to set aside separate time for exercise. Even simple changes can help, such as walking to school instead of driving, or cycling to the park rather than travelling by car will help the whole family to fit more physical activity into their daily routine.
Disclosure – this is a collaborative post.
