It is a common thing we all heard as children, but when we become the parent that tells our children “eat up, it’s good for you,” we shouldn’t be surprised if it falls on deaf ears. When we are trying to take care of our children’s health and well-being, the fact is we’ve got to understand how we can get the message through to our children. Young children are lucky in the fact that they will not feel the negative impacts of a bad diet just yet, but over time, they will. How can we ensure that we get the message through to our children?
Reiterating the Importance of Appointments
Regular appointments should be part and parcel of our lives. Health check-ups at the doctor or visiting a local dentist will ensure the waiting room becomes a regular fixture in your child’s life. The importance of appointments is critical, but so many of us are almost too busy to prioritize appointments and health. As parents, we need to remember that health is the most important thing, not the work we do.
How We Speak to Our Children About Health
The dinner time battle is something that every parent can empathize with. Getting our children to eat a piece of broccoli ends up with us either resorting to bribery tactics, such as giving them dessert, or we end up demonizing healthy foods because we get frustrated. Speaking to our children about health should be about recognizing our tone of voice. It can be easy to become frustrated as parents because we’re trying to help them, but we need to start by avoiding any form of talking down or making our children feel guilty for not eating healthily. It all stems from how we conduct ourselves.
Helping Them Understand the Importance of Looking After Themselves
We are the parents, and we are there to provide but we must remember that healthy eating and being healthy is about them having a wider understanding of what they can do to help themselves. When our children feel sluggish and lethargic, it’s important to make a mental note of these times, especially when they correlate with a sugar crash. Of course, every child has a short-term memory and will be back on the sugar the next day, but if we can start implementing the right habits so if they demand the sweet treats, it’s earlier in the day or not so close to bedtime, these are things that can make a big difference and ensure they have more balanced energy levels.
The health of your children is an incredibly vast subject. As parents, we need to provide a wide range of resources to ensure that they understand the importance of eating healthily. The goal should be about our children wanting to eat healthy things but part of this is also to do with the example we set. If we do not eat healthily ourselves, we can’t expect our children to want to eat healthily just because we tell them it’s good for them. This is why we’ve got to get the message through to our children by being the living embodiment of health ourselves.