We all know that undoing those unhealthy habits as an adult is a laborious and difficult feat. Wouldn’t it be amazing if our kids never had to suffer from half the disease, depression and lack of energy from being overweight, and general discomfort in their skin that many of us moms and dads deal with on the daily? The solution is to start young with creating healthy habits, leaving less to be undone and corrected later in their pubescent and adult lives. Here are five great ways to get them started in creating healthy habits to carry with them as they grow and live happy and fulfilling lives!
1) EXERCISE IN FRONT OF THEM – they may just join ya! This is one of the things I love about working out at home now. When my kids see me pushing play daily, they see me pushing for my goals and getting stronger. At first they got in my way a lot, crawling through my down dogs, and laying on me as I plank…but now they know that mommy is pretty serious about workouts and they are generally very good and patient while I get it done!
2) BRING YOUR KIDS TO THE GROCERY STORE – Healthy eating for sure starts with the food you buy. Did you know that there are kids in this country that literally don’t know the difference between a potato and a tomato? Yup…educate your kids…make the produce section a place for learning. Let them pick out your fruits and veggies so they may be more inclined to eat it when you get home. My kids know all of the sections we hit up in the grocery store. They love to pick out daddy’s granola and yogurt, and they get really excited when I ask them which color milk cap we drink. Shopping for groceries can be an excellent teaching time…bring em!
3) COOK WITH YOUR KIDS – So we all know that restaurant food can be laden with salt and butter, right? I try to avoid eating out for the most part these days and opt for cooking simple healthy meals at home. Teaching your kids young to be little chefs will serve them well in the future! My boys love helping me cook and it makes the food that we make together all that tastier and special!
4) PACK HEALTHY SNACKS AND LUNCHES – This is definitely one that I did amazing at when my boys when they were babies…super healthy portioned and packed snacks. At some point life got super crazy and busy and the fruit snacks and Cheez-its snack packages in bulk from Costco seemed to be the easiest option. I recently resolved to press the reset button on that one…I don’t judge those who choose these snacks (it was me literally a month ago), but for me and the habits I want to create for my kids, my decision is to get a little healthier in what my kids are eating on the daily. Last week, when packing snacks, my son asked for 2 packages of fruit snacks. When my husband told him that we didn’t have any but we had carrots, he was actually very happy to take the carrots for snack! What do ya know!
5) MAKE HOLIDAYS HEALTHY FUN! – Recently I feel like we have been living life holiday to holiday, our candy bowl only depleting minutes before the next holiday. Personally I have made a concerted effort at holidays to focus on family rather than food, make some of the holiday favorite dishes in new revamped healthier versions, and get creative with my kids in our holiday treats!
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