Parents are the best guides to helping children develop lifelong healthy habits!
Research suggests the earlier, the better for parents to start supporting activities and practices that promote health and well-being. Here are 6 tips for helping to develop healthy habits as a family.
1. Be an active family.
Children learn healthy long-term life habits from you! Plan a variety of regular exercise and outdoor activities with your children. Make the activities fun with games and goals. After-school sports can also be a great opportunity for children to develop strong habits of routine exercise.
2. Create a supportive environment.
Stability, support and consistent patterns in your household will help to promote an environment ideal for developing healthy habits. Create routine schedules and meal patterns, and engage in mind-stimulating and physical activities often. Aim for flexibility within a supportive environment to give children the opportunity to participate in healthful behaviors.
3. Optimize healthy habits.
Children should have a lead role in planning family meals, shopping and preparing food. Work on creating balanced healthy meals with flexibility. Create warm friendly mealtimes with your whole family whenever possible. Other healthy habits such as exercise can also be reinforced by letting your child lead and by participating as a whole family.
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4. Be flexible.
Children’s appetites fluctuate throughout their development. Your role is to ensure nutritious meals are available and to model and support desired behaviors, but let your child lead with how much they want to eat. You can encourage trying all the foods on their plate, but avoid forcing children to finish all of them. Long-term negative associations with foods can be more detrimental than missing their veggies at one meal.
5. Aim for balance.
Avoid using food as a reward system or labeling some foods as forbidden. These actions may seem like ways to limit undesirable behaviors or encourage desired behaviors, but they can cause children to develop an unhealthy relationship with food. Often children will have the opposite reaction to these practices, such as seeking out forbidden foods. Excessive control over children’s diets and mealtimes can lead to children potentially becoming overweight.
6. Eat together.
Families who aim to consistently eat together multiple nights a week can feel closer and more bonded. Engage in fun conversations and topics that engage all members of the family. Time together also gives you the opportunity to encourage and model desired behaviors, such as drinking more water and eating at a slower pace.
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All parents encounter challenges as their children grow up. And sometimes, issues may arise that leave you uncertain as to how best to respond. But not every issue requires therapy or counseling. The PACE program is here to help during those times.
Wazazi ndio wenye mwongozo bora wa kuwasaidia watoto wao wasitawishe mazoea mazuri ya maisha yote! Utafiti unaonyesha kuwa mapema, ni bora kwa wazazi kuanza kusaidia shughuli na mazoea ambayo huendeleza afya na ustawi. Hapa kuna vidokezo sita vya jinsi ya kuendeleza tabia nzuri ya maisha ya familia. 1. Uwe na mtazamo wa kweli Kuwa familia yenye bidii. Watoto hujifunza mazoea mazuri ya maisha kutoka kwako! Panga mazoezi ya kawaida na shughuli za nje pamoja na watoto wako. Fanya shughuli hizo ziwe zenye kufurahisha kwa kutumia michezo na malengo. Michezo ya baada ya shule pia inaweza kuwa fursa nzuri kwa watoto kuendeleza mazoea yenye nguvu ya mazoezi ya kawaida. 2. Uwezekano wa kupata Fanya mazingira yenye kutegemeza. Msimamo, msaada na mifumo ya kawaida katika nyumba yako itasaidia kukuza mazingira bora kwa ajili ya kuendeleza tabia nzuri. Fanya ratiba ya chakula na mazoezi ya kawaida, na ufanye mazoezi ya mwili na ya akili mara nyingi. Lengo la kubadilika ndani ya mazingira ya kuunga mkono kutoa watoto nafasi ya kushiriki katika tabia za afya. 3. Uwe na mtazamo wa kweli Fanya mazoea mazuri ya afya. Watoto wanapaswa kuwa na jukumu kuu katika kupanga chakula cha familia, ununuzi na kutayarisha chakula. Fanya kazi ya kutengeneza vyakula vyenye afya vyenye usawaziko kwa kubadilika-badilika. Panga wakati wa chakula cha jioni na familia yako yote iwezekanavyo. Mazoea mengine ya afya kama vile mazoezi ya mwili yanaweza pia kuimarishwa kwa kumruhusu mtoto wako kuongoza na kwa kushiriki kama familia nzima. Angalia rasilimali za ziada za kuwa mzazi! Angalia orodha yetu iliyoongezwa ya tovuti za uzazi zilizopendekezwa, vitabu na rasilimali nyingine zilizopangwa kwa mada. 4. Uwe na uhakika Uwe mwenye kubadilika-badilika. Tamaa za watoto hubadilika-badilika wakati wa ukuzi wao. Kazi yako ni kuhakikisha chakula chenye lishe kinapatikana na kuiga na kuunga mkono tabia zinazohitajika, lakini acha mtoto wako aongoze na kiasi anachotaka kula. Msiwatia moyo watoto wako wajaribu vyakula vyote vilivyo kwenye sahani yao, lakini msiwalazimishe kula vyakula vyote. Kuunganisha chakula kwa muda mrefu kunaweza kuwa na madhara zaidi kuliko kukosa mboga wakati wa chakula kimoja. 5. Uwe na mtazamo mzuri. Jitahidi kuwa na usawaziko. Epuka kutumia chakula kama mfumo wa thawabu au kuweka alama kwenye vyakula fulani kuwa vimepigwa marufuku. Hatua hizi zinaweza kuonekana kama njia za kupunguza tabia zisizohitajika au kuhamasisha tabia zinazohitajika, lakini zinaweza kusababisha watoto kuendeleza uhusiano usio na afya na chakula. Mara nyingi watoto watakuwa na itikio kinyume cha mazoea hayo, kama vile kutafuta vyakula vilivyokatazwa. Kudhibiti kupita kiasi juu ya lishe ya watoto na wakati wa chakula kunaweza kusababisha watoto kuwa na uzito wa ziada. 6. Uwe na uhakika Kula pamoja. Familia ambazo hujiwekea lengo la kula pamoja mara nyingi kwa juma zinaweza kuhisi kuwa karibu zaidi na kuwa na uhusiano wa karibu zaidi. Kujiunga na mazungumzo ya kufurahisha na mada ambazo zinawavutia washiriki wote wa familia. Wakati pamoja pia unakupa fursa ya kuhamasisha na kuiga tabia zinazohitajika, kama vile kunywa maji zaidi na kula kwa kasi ya polepole. Kupokea Mafunzo ya Baada ya Kupitishwa Wazazi wote hukutana na changamoto wakati watoto wao wanakua. Na nyakati nyingine, huenda masuala yakaibuka ambayo yanakufanya usijue jinsi ya kukabiliana nayo. Lakini si kila tatizo linalohitaji matibabu au ushauri. Programu ya PACE iko hapa kusaidia wakati huo.