How To Get Children To Live A Healthy Lifestyle – From 2 to 6 Years Old
My previous post on how to get children to live a healthy lifestyle are more for babies. This time, I will talk how I get my kids to live a healthy lifestyle, using simple, easy methods I used to do as a full time working mum, you can do this too!
Tip#1 – Bring Them To The Playground To Shake off That Extra Fats!
Ok, I think you would have heard many others say Exercise is a good way, that’s too general. I’m going to tell instead, what I have used when I was a full time working mummy, and it works well for me.
When my boy turns 5 years old, he’s getting chubbier than I think he should. There’s simply too much temptations for the kids, cakes, breads and like, they just love them!
What I do is to bring them to the playground, making an effort to bring them there every 2 days, hoping to shake off their extra fats by playing, running around, treat it as a form of exercise. Yes, I think he’s chubby but he is still not considered overweight, so that’s a sign of relief!
Tip#2 – Eat Fruits During Tea Times, Cut down on Cakes, Breads, Pastries or Biscuits.
If your child is overweight, I would recommend staying off pastries for a while till there’s improvement in their weight, else a little bit of fat every now and then is good as children do need some fats to burn off as they are naturally very active beings.
Hmm, I am sure all mummies know fruits are healthier than pastries. Problem is if you are able to persuade your kid to eat fruits if your kid’s not a fruit lover? If so, why not try making them drink fruit juice instead? A bit more work but I think it should work great! If it still cannot work, explore this option: buy some sweets or biscuits that are a healthier choice than their fattier counterparts like Ribena pastilles. Use one to two pastilles to reward your child for drinking that cup of fruit juice up.
Tip#3 – Make them Do Homework (You Indicate, Not schoolwork) Everyday
Besides getting kids to physically shred off their fats, they do need to mentally healthy as well. By doing homework, its a form of brain exercise, especially Maths. My boy do not like writing chinese characters, so I got him to write one to two pages everyday in exchange for a 30 mins cartoon show. Sometimes, its 2 pages of Maths, as I do not want him to hate writing chinese. Do be sensitive enough to detect this though!
For a start, do sit beside your kid, show him how to write (may need to hold his hand) or do that maths problem. Then let him try a bit by himself, sit through the whole session till he finishes that one page of work (this is a variable component – you indicate how much you want or think your kid is capable enough to accomplish, should be something easy for a start) you indicated to him.
This tip requires some time on your part, so make sure you had that time for your kid (about 30 mins), else high chance this is not going to work! If you find that your kid is capable enough to finish by himself, you can excuse yourself for some sessions so that he can do the homework independently, but at times, do make an effort to join him at times, cos its especially enjoyable for the kid as he got your company, I’m sure you will enjoy it too!
Tip#4 – Tell BedTime Stories Every Night
I treat this as a form of healthy mental lifestyle. Telling your kids bedtime stories also keeps them happy, indirectly letting them know that you love them and cared for them. This is also a way of raising smart kids!
It does not have to complicated stories, go for short meaningful stories. For me, I told them Aesop Fables’s short stories when I first started. I shopped for short stories in chinese as well, do not want to limit only English ones. I told fairy tales ever popular 3 Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, The Apple Tree Story etc. Some of the stories I even made it up myself!
I do have times that I simply do not have the mood to tell my kids bedtime stories. I will tell my kids the reason and ask them to let me have my one day off. Sometimes they are so sweet that they agree! Well, happy kids do make a difference, so make an effort to do it now!
- sweetietots
