As the nights get longer and the cold weather starts setting in, many of us will start thinking about our family’s health and how to prevent illness during the colder half of the year. Keeping your kids healthy starts with you. By teaching them healthy habits from a young age, they will incorporate these values into the rest of their adult lives.
Good health rests on a few core principles: plenty of exercise, healthy eating and quality sleep. By getting these things right, the rest will follow. But how does one get to this point in the first place? The following suggestions might steer your family in the right direction.
Do something healthy together as a family
When the kids are young, family activities form the crux of their weekends and school holidays. Take advantage of this by picking a family activity that involves sport or another wholesome activity that you like doing together. Maybe it’s a friendly game of football, or maybe it’s a leisurely bike ride!
Gardening lends itself particularly well to these kinds of activities. It’s a form of exercise and encourages kids to eat healthily and locally. What’s more, your family garden will benefit from so many caring hands.
If you have a big garden, get the kids into growing fruits and vegetables and get them into the habit of using fruit cages to protect their crop from pests. This way, the crop and the pests are protected from harm, and you’ll have a brilliant yield all year.
Schedule your meals
Eating regularly and at normal times is also a key way to stay healthy. By eating bigger portions less frequently, you are likely to snack less, which decreases the chance of weight gain and increases metabolism.
Planning weekly meals is a great way to keep the family on track. Not only will you have prepared nutritious meals beforehand, but you will also spend less on the shopping as you’ll only be buying what you need, and you are less likely to fall for the charm of a mid-week takeaway.
Consider getting a pet
Getting your kids out on a walk can be a big ask in summer, let alone winter. However, with a dog, there is much more motivation for the family to strap on their big fluffy coats and head out into the cold to take their fur baby out for a walk.
Having a pet comes with many benefits for the development of children. Not only does it encourage them to do more exercise, but it also develops organisational and forces the kids to think about another sentient being’s needs, which, let’s face it, is never a bad thing!