Healthy Habits for Happy Kids.
Make Healthy Meals a Priority
Let’s be honest, hectic mornings, long days at work, after school activities and the homework battle are exhausting! It’s hard to find the time to prepare good nutritious meals for your family. It seems so much easier to eat a bowl of sugary cereal for breakfast or pick up a pizza after work rather than prepare something healthy. But, unfortunately your kids’ eating habits, especially if they struggle academically in school, could make a huge difference.
Create the healthy habit of planning your menu for the week and prepping as much as you can on the weekends. Pre-cut your veggies, pre-cook your meats, and make healthy breakfast items before Monday morning hits. This little bit of extra time and effort can make a huge difference for the entire family!
Eat Dinner as a Family
With so much time spent watching TV, playing video games and staring at cell phones, it seems like face-face communication has become a lost art. Family mealtime is the perfect chance for parents and children to reconnect. Kids can use this time to build their vocabulary and communication skills, tell stories, laugh, and talk about their problems. Recent studies show that family meals lower rates of substance abuse, teen pregnancy and depression, and leads to higher self-esteem and grade-point averages.
Regular Bedtime Schedules
As a parent, we all know this is one of the hardest parts of the day. Keeping a bedtime routine provides structure and gives your child the right amount of sleep they need to stay focused and awake so they can learn in school. Studies show kids who maintain a regular bedtime routine have better behavior and are less likely to act out. To get your child into a scheduled bedtime, try lowering the lights 30 minutes before they are ready to sleep. When light starts to fade, the brain hormone melatonin starts to rise, causing drowsiness.
Don’t Forget About YOU!
One of the most important habits to create is to take time for YOU during the school year. With all that goes on day-to-day it’s critical to take care of yourself so you can in turn take care of your children. We all want what is best for our children, but there is so much pressure to be the “perfect parent” that it’s easy to create a lot of undo stress. Remember, there is no perfect parent out there so taking time for yourself may be one of the key ingredients for happy parents and happy kids. Eating healthy meals, spending quality time with your kids, and getting a full night sleep will refresh and re-energize your efforts as a parent!