Start Now To Help Your Child Grow Up Healthy

It’s normal for parents to want the best for their children. After all, you want to ensure your child grows up to be a happy and healthy adult. 

But it’s easy for parents to make vital mistakes when it comes to health when their child is young. Therefore, here are some steps to take so that your child is healthier when they are an adult.

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Take control of their diet now

It’s so easy to fall into bad habits when it comes to your kids. They want to eat sugary snacks after school, and it's easy to give in to crisps and chocolate. You might be surprised to know recent government reports found that 1 in 3 UK kids are overweight by the time they reach the age of 11 so it’s more important than ever to try and limit their intake of high fat and sugary foods while they are young.

Try to find healthier snacks for your kids. Encourage them to eat carrot sticks with hummus and fruit with yoghurt, rather than heading for the crisps. Also, you need to make healthy dinners that you can eat as a family. If you are all eating the same meal, your children hopefully won’t moan as much about the lack of chicken nuggets and chips!

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Let them cook with you

A lot of the reason why people fall into unhealthy territory with foods is that they don’t actually know how to cook healthy dishes. It leads to people just sticking in an unhealthy ready meal into the oven! Therefore, you need to try and implement cooking skills into your kids as young as possible. That way, they will be able to cook and make healthy dishes when they are older. And as this article says, involving your kids in the cooking and preparation will mean they are more likely to eat fruit and vegetables.

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Make them brush their teeth daily

It’s an unfortunate fact that a lot of people in the UK have bad dental health. They end up having teeth removed sooner rather than later. A lot of the reason is down to us not brushing our teeth enough. You can read in my previous blog post that 40% of us don’t even brush our teeth once a day!

By not brushing, plaque builds up, and people end up needing fillings and cheap dental implants to cover the imperfections. Therefore, you need to encourage your kids to brush their teeth every day. Also, make sure they attend their dental appointments every year. You should also be limiting their fizzy drink intake as this will cause long-term damage to your teeth.

Encourage them to exercise daily

You might not realise that only one in three kids is actually getting enough physical exercise every day. Instead of getting outside and being active, a lot of kids prefer to sit inside on their tablets, computers, and phones. But by doing this, they are more at risk of obesity and heart problems when they are older. Therefore, sign them up for an energetic class in the evening such as gymnastics or martial arts. By doing this, it will ensure they are getting regular exercise in their life.

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Remember that parents are one of the biggest influences in their children’s lives. So you need to lead by example and follow the above so that your children are inspired to follows suit.