Our role as parents is essential if we want our children to adopt healthy habits. A "do it" is not enough, we have to play an active role encouraging them but also committing and of course, educating them by example.
Children are more likely to exercise, eat well and limit the time they spend in front of the screens when parents actively and committedly support them. So, if you want your children to adopt healthy habits, apply and set an example
More exercise
It is shown that if the parents are active, the children will also be active. By inverse property, if parents want their children to practice physical activity, it is they themselves who should start exercising.
According to a telephone survey of more than 3,200 parents with at least one child under the age of 18 in Ontario, parents who take their children to places where they can be physically active, such as playgrounds and sports programs, have the twice as likely to say that your children meet the recommended exercise guidelines.
Further, when parents participate in activities with their childrenThey are 35 percent more likely to be physically active.
Healthy nutrition
According to the same survey, Parents offering raw fruits and vegetables between meals They were almost 5 times more likely to claim that their children met the recommended nutrition guidelines.
If we want our children to feed properly, we have to make an effort on our part. Start from the moment of making the purchase, choosing unprocessed foods and avoiding abusing those with a high content of fats and sugars.
And it continues at home, where we must try to leave healthy food on hand, such as snacks that you can eat between meals based on cut fruits and vegetables. The children are not going to cut the fruit, but if we do we will have snacks ready to eat when they are on their way to training or doing extracurricular activities.
Less screens
The abuse of television, tablets and smartphones is not exclusive to the little ones. Children see, children do. If they see us hooked on the screens, they will take them as normal and they will also negatively affect family communication. Since they mimic all our behaviors, and we are the mirror in which they look let's take the opportunity to educate them.
Turning off the television and sharing the table at lunchtime is key for our children to acquire better eating habits. The table is a place where the family can communicate and talk about food, how they are, how they know, food is better chosen, and this has a positive impact on the quality of the diet.
According to the survey we mentioned before, parents who eat at home, but far from televisionThey are 67 percent more likely to say that their children eat enough fruit and vegetables. And the parents who reinforced the rules regarding television, tablets and other electronic devices were twice as likely to claim that their children followed the guidelines regarding the screens.
