As your children grow up it’s always important to promote a healthy active lifestyle. From teaching them what foods to eat, what to avoid, to exercise regularly, and the importance of getting a good night’s sleep. A lot will be taught to them at school, but it’s always good to refresh their memory and help keep them on track.
Below are a few things to consider to encourage a healthy outlook to life for your kids.
1. Eating a Healthy Diet
While this may sound like an obvious one, diet is important, and your diet plays a big role in how your children act and behave, and ultimately what they may choose to eat. By making sure they are achieving their five a day, you will not only help them concentrate better at school, but also feel better in themselves.
There are many recipes that you can make that help your children into eating their vegetables, but it’s important to educate them on the importance of a healthy diet. A great way to do this is to encourage your children to cook with you as they will be more likely to want to try what they have prepared. This is something we’ve done with a lot of success with our own son Lewis.
You can also find fun and interesting ways to get kids to eat more whole grains and fruits. Products like Growli Muesli, for instance, are now becoming available that make it easy to get healthy foods in the morning. It makes a great replacement for regular, sugary cereal and keeps energy levels high until lunch.
2. Getting Outside Together
Go out and explore the world together. If it’s raining, still go and don’t be afraid to jump in muddy puddles with your children. By going on an adventure together, you will not only get to spend some quality time with one another but also be able to see places and experience new things.
If you have any large parkland areas near you, go there, alternatively, look up some walking trials. If you want company, ask your friends and their children to join you. We’re extremely fortunate to have so many great places to go with children right on our doorstep, including walks around Newcastle, the stunning Mourne Mountains and the picturesque Castlewellan Forest Park.
3. Exercise Together
By regularly exercising you will not only keep your children healthy but also yourself. Plus, exercising is a great way to bond together, lose weight if that’s your goal and reduce your stress levels. There are many different types of exercise you can do with your kids, from going to the park, or a kickabout down your local field – the possibilities are endless.
4. Regular Medical Checks
When your children are growing up it’s important that they regularly attend their medical checks. Things like their regular injections, such as the MMR is important to keeping your children healthy. If they haven’t done one yet, an eyesight test is always important, as well as hearing tests for children. Most of the time they will come back without a problem, but on the rare occasion, something may appear that can be fixed easily because of the regular checkups.
Got Something to Add?
There are many ways to help your children stay healthy. The most important thing is that you don’t put pressure on them, but subtly teach them the importance as they grow up.
What key lessons do you teach your children? What tactics do you use to help keep them healthy? Let us know in the comments section below.
Until next time, thanks for reading.
Helen, Nial and Lewis
Welcome to Pikalily, an award-winning food, travel and lifestyle blog. We are Nial and Helen, a happily married couple from Northern Ireland, who share a passion for food and travel among many things. We became parents to our beautiful boy Lewis in 2017. Follow our adventures through the blog.
