Helping Your Child Become a Healthy Adult
While parents can't offer their children any guarantees of future health and happiness, they can help point them in the right direction toward adulthood.
"The first and most important thing a parent can do is to provide children with a safe environment, one in which there is love and protection," says Charles M. Ginsburg, M.D., chairman of the department of pediatrics at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. "Children by their very nature are inquisitive and curious, which makes them high-risk individuals."
While safety is very important, it is not the end-all of raising children to be healthy adults. Other considerations are their diet and their participation in fitness activities, as well as the message parents communicate through their own lifestyle habits.
Be A Good Role Model
The best way to teach children is by example. If something is important to you--such as daily exercise--then this fact won't be lost on your children. By exercising regularly, you're serving as a role model and teaching them the importance of physical fitness.
Consistency is another key to being a good example. If you want your children to learn that fruit tastes good and is healthy, you need to eat fruit regularly. Young children won't accept a nutrition concept that isn't followed by you.
When your children become teenagers, you might not be able to enforce your ideas about lifestyle habits. But you can provide teens with information that allows them to make their own decisions wisely.
Dealing With Diet
You can introduce children to good nutritional habits when they are very young. But keep a relaxed attitude about food. Here are some ideas that will help you handle your youngsters' nutritional needs and wants:
Recognize changing requirements. Nutritional needs vary by age. Foods considered nutritionally appropriate for adults might be inappropriate for children. It's best to discuss proper diet for your youngsters with your pediatrician.
Be realistic. Don't obsess about how much or how little your children eat. When given healthful food and left to themselves, normal children will eat what they need to sustain growth.
Practice what you preach. Be a good role model by eating healthful, nutritional foods. Keep undesirable foods out of the house.
Don't make food an all-or-nothing issue. If you're too restrictive with your children's diet, they might feel compelled to fill up on junk food when you're not around. Instead, teach them moderation.
Recognize that you can't separate children from their peers. Kids are bound to eat candy, cake and ice cream at birthday parties and other social events. To compensate, serve them more healthful meals at home.
Working At Fitness
If you're a couch potato, don't expect your children to be fitness devotees. They learn by example. To encourage their interest in exercise:
- Be actively involved in recreational activities. Take your children along on your walks, bike rides and swims.
- Send a consistent message. Don't exercise only on weekends. Find ways to fit a workout into your daily routine.
- Make exercise fun and exciting for children. This is the best form of motivation.
- Put a premium on non-organized play for preschoolers. They burn more calories running after a ball in the park than they do participating in many team sports.
- Consider enrolling school-age children in a soccer program. Of all team sports, soccer gives youngsters the best aerobic workout.
