Teach Your Child About Good Health

Children learn in a variety of ways including watching, listening, doing, and gaining experience. Try to accommodate many ways of learning by presenting your lessons in a variety of ways and reinforcing them. Some ways that lessons can be taught effectively are through verbal communication, with reading materials and visual representations, through activities, and through educational television programs or videos. Reinforce your lessons by using repetition and using more than one method to approach each topic.

Consider teaching your child about a wide range of health topics from eating well to good hygiene to coping with stress. Be well informed about a variety of topics and ready to share your information with your child.

Healthy eating habits should be learned early, especially since being overweight or obese is a growing health problem. Begin by making healthy choices available to your child, and then encourage him to choose those options. For a visual aid you could make use of the Food Guide Pyramid, which illustrates nutritional recommendations for children three and older. Stress healthy eating habits and discourage skipping meals or eating fast food. In addition, refrain from insisting that your child to clean their plate if he is not hungry or offering dessert as a reward. Provide a healthy diet for your child and create healthy eating habits that he can carry into adulthood.

Encourage your child to be physically active. Participating in group sports can be a great way for him to get regular exercise and learn about the game and teamwork. Group sports are just one approach that could be combined with his school's physical education classes and your limitations on television viewing and video game playing. Walking and riding bicycles are activities you could enjoy doing together. Making time for regular exercise can prevent health problems later in life, and should be an easy activity to promote because it can be accomplished in such a variety of fun ways. Many physical activities involve play; you might play tag, play catch, or go skating.

Teach your child to avoid negative influences and refrain from smoking, drinking, or abusing drugs. Find ways to make the problematic nature of these actions seem relevant. Did you know someone who was killed by a drunk driver or who developed lung cancer? Using examples from your life can be an effective means of communication. Viewing a smoker's lung can also be a tangible way to demonstrate the negative effects of smoking. Give your child facts and role play him to practice saying no.

Proper hygiene and safety are two basic health topics that children should learn about early on. Activities like bathing and brushing teeth should be part of a regular routine. As for safety, they should know about keeping out of household chemicals and being wary of strangers, especially when you are not there.

Many obvious health issues are physical, but mental and emotional health are equally important elements of a healthy lifestyle. For example, if your child is grieving or suffering from stress, it is important to talk to them and give them the skills to help them through difficult times.

A major component of teaching your child any aspect of good health is leading by example. When you can, include your child in the preparation of healthy meals and your regular exercise routine. In addition to having healthy habits, explain why you do things the way you do. Your child might be tempted to overeat, but will be deterred after being reminded of the stomachache that resulted last time. Your child might know that they are not allowed to have caffeine before bedtime, but it will seem like a more reasonable restriction to them if they know why. Children are more likely to follow healthy habits when you aren't around to monitor them if they understand the reasoning behind the rule.

Think about the factors that are important to your child's health and use some of the above tips to teach them to live a healthy lifestyle. Take the opportunity to make a positive impact on your child's quality of life by imparting some of the most important information he could ever learn.