Healthy Habits for Kids That Are Essential

First of all, we need to congratulate you on being a great parent. Wondering how we know that you are one? It is pretty clear that you are if you can be in search of healthy habits for kids to teach yours.

Each new day, your child develops a little more. With this development comes new mental and physical skills as well as habits. From a tender age, you need to teach them healthy habits for preschoolers. This way you ensure that they remain healthy when they finally begin school.

While many parents believe it is quite difficult to get this done, it is actually very simple. Your child learns a lot from just watching you. This means that if you want them to learn a new habit, you need to begin to practice such habits yourself.

Healthy habits for kindergarten are important to keep your kids healthy and free from infections and illnesses. To this end, we have compiled a few healthy habits for kids that you can teach your kids in this post.

Top healthy habits for your kids

We have tried to make them as simple as possible. This way, you can teach them easily and your kids can practice them without stress. Check out these habits below:

Never skip breakfast

It is very important that you help your kid develop a proper eating diet from a tender age. This implies that you let them know how each meal of the day is. While each meal is very important, studies show that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Once your children understand this habit and can cultivate it, it saves them from snacking through the day. As you know, snacking comes the tendency to become overweight. With a nutritious breakfast, your child should be full at least until lunch. Plus they will have the energy to run around and remain active all through the day.

Wash up

When we talk about washing up here, we mean washing the hands. even as adults we cannot emphasize enough how important it is to wash our hands frequently. Now think of your children that spend a ton of their day on the playground or in school.

Everywhere children go, they get fascinated by different things, whether on the floor or some other surface. Their fascination fuels a curiosity that leads them to touch several objects. Most of these objects have germs and bacteria covering them.

This is besides the fact that just by standing aloof, several microorganisms flying through the air come in contact with our bodies. It is with our hands that we take food into the mouth. This means that not washing the hands frequently can result in consuming these microorganisms. Doing this is very harmful to the health of your child as it can lead to several medical conditions.

It is very important that you teach your kids to wash their hands frequently. Best practice prescribes that they do this at least for 20 seconds straight with soap or hand wash and water. Washing should be done before and after eating, after coming home from the playground or the park, and definitely after using the bathroom.

Using tissue paper properly

Many parents somehow get to neglect this habit and it isn’t surprising seeing that many of us don’t even practice it. Using tissues properly is an etiquette that your kids need to learn from a very tender age. Teach them to use a tissue when they have to sneeze or cough.

After this, let them know that they need to dispose of the tissue properly immediately after use. To emphasize this, you have to place a trash can in a few places in your home including your kid’s room. Teaching them this habit saves them from infections.

In the same vein, you should teach them to wash their hands after sneezing. Explain that not doing so could make them pass the germs to other children they come in contact with.

Flushing the toilet

Great, your kid now knows how to use the toilet. You must be so proud of the achievement, however, it doesn’t stop there. You also need to teach that child the importance of flushing after using the toilet. When your kid learns this, then you can say that their toilet training is complete.

Get out

Have you noticed that these days, kids would rather stay indoors to play with Xboxes and iPads? When we were younger, all we wanted to do after school was play outside with our friends. Technology has changed the tide and it seems all our children want to do these days is sit in front of the television.

This may seem cool but really, it isn’t. According to medical studies, there are certain cognitive and motor skills your kids develop on the playground. This is why you have to encourage that child to find more happiness playing outdoors.

To do this, you find several activities that are healthy for your child. Some of these include getting a pet, using hula hoops, riding bicycles, etc. You can also teach them a couple of household chores so they can get a bit more engaged. By the way, gardening with your child is not a bad idea.

Bathing

While we all know that bathing is a very healthy habit, kids will once in a while just refuse to bathe. We have all been there. Remember when you were a child and how you would run away from bathing? They are at that stage now.

Bathing is one of the healthy habits for kids you cannot overemphasize. Explain to them why they need to bathe frequently. Make it easy for them by stocking your bathroom with shampoos, bath bombs, soaps, and a couple of toys.

Make sure that you make bathing exciting for your kids. This way, you can be sure they won’t hesitate to take a bath when they need to.

Ditch the soda

While many of us adults are looking for ways to eat healthily, more kids are falling prey to our mistakes. More are more drinks containing soda are hitting the shelves in our supermarkets on a daily basis. As a result, our kids are by default becoming addicted to consuming these drinks.

One of the healthy habits for kindergarten you can teach your kids is to stay away from these drinks. Substitute soda drinks with healthy fruit juices and lots of water. This will keep them healthy and solve their hydration issues.

Couch potato

Being a couch potato only leads a person down one road, obesity. You need to explain this to your child as you cannot afford them to become overweight at a very young age. If they become overweight, you put them at risk of facing a couple of developmental problems.

Beyond this, it also puts them at risk of performing below capacity in school. Let’s face the fact, beyond all of these reasons, it is just not right.

Promote brushing twice daily

The question to ask before going ahead with this point is, “how many parents brush twice daily?” Are you guilty of this? If your answer is yes, then you need to change else it will be difficult to teach your kids this habit.

Dental hygiene is a very important aspect of our lives and you have to teach your kids about this very early. Naturally, kids take a lot of snacks, and most of these stick to the gaps in their teeth. With brushing frequently, they can get these snacks out easily.

Leaving these snacks there can cause cavities and decay of the teeth. Help your kids to develop a healthy dental routine by teaching them to brush twice daily at least. They should brush using less-fluoride toothpaste. You need to also teach them about staying away from food after brushing at night.

Getting the right amount of sleep

A young child between the ages of 5 and 12 needs a minimum of 10 hours of sleep daily. This is one of the best ways to keep them healthy. There are so many distractions that can prevent a child from doing this.

It is your responsibility as the parent to ensure that they develop a habit of going to bed early. When they go to bed early, then they can get enough sleep all through the night and be up early for school. Try working on a regular sleep pattern such that they go to sleep at about the same time daily.

When they get enough sleep, they are more active during the day and their immunity levels are high. You also need to learn about ways to lull your kids to sleep. Very small kids might need you to sing them a lullaby or tell them a bedtime story. You may also get a bedside doll that they can play with until they fall asleep.

Conclusion

There are so many healthy habits for kids that you need to teach. We have brought you a couple in this post. What other healthy habits for preschoolers do you know? Share them with us in the comments section.