As parents one of the biggest concerns you face daily is how to keep your child happy and healthy.
This is not always as easy as it sounds with all the juggling of activities. Today, many people have a difficult time believing that happiness is enough. The focus is on success.
Pushing a child to succeed is not always the answer to helping your child be happy and healthy.
1. Eating Healthy
Children mimic what they see. Encourage your child to develop healthy eating habits. There are many ways that this can be accomplished. You can eat healthy together by sitting down together at mealtime and actively demonstrating healthy choices is a great way to set the stage to healthy eating.
Instead of fast food on Fridays, cook a healthy meal together and talk about why the choices are good ones. Also, cut out processed sugars. Sodas, potato chips,and candy are all staples for a child; however, they are not good choices.
Encourage your child to avoid processes sugars by offering healthy alternatives such as fruit juices, water, and fresh fruit and vegetables. Help your child pack a healthy school lunch everyday.
Many parents find it easier to throw ready-made meals in a brown bag, but these are filled with fat, carbs, and sugars. All things a happy, healthy child needs to avoid.
2. Make Sleep a Priority
As adults it is common to push pass being tired in order to accomplish our goals. With children, it is a different story. To be physically and mentally happy and healthy children need at least 10 hours of uninterrupted, relaxed sleep.
Make bedtime special with set routines such as bathing, brushing teeth, getting ready for bed followed by a happy story. Children will sleep better and more soundly if there are no stressful confrontations or frightening thoughts in their minds.
3. Establish a Stress-Free Lifestyle
The easiest way to accomplish this is by talking with your child daily. Children who know they can discuss any topic with their parents without recrimination tend to be more relaxed.
By keeping their lives stress free you are providing with an early foundation to a stress free adult life. Also, children with low stress levels tend to not get sick as easily as stress actually lowers the ability of the body to fight infection.
4. Encourage Family Time
The family that plays together stays healthy together. Instead of everyone going their separate ways on the weekends plan family activities such as bike rides, walks, and swimming. Not only will your child be happy spending time with you, you will demonstrate the concept of healthy choices through exercise.
5. Allow Emotional Expression
Everyone has a bad day now and again. It is not healthy to keep emotion bottled up. Children need to be able to appropriately express their emotions.
That’s not to say that allowing a full-blown kicking, screaming temper tantrum is the answer, but allowing your child the freedom to openly say they are upset and why goes a long way towards a happy, healthy child throughout their lifetime.
Keeping your child happy and healthy is your number one priority as a parent. Happiness can’t be measured by money or success. It can be measured by the love and support you provide.
