In this tough world, we should try our best to inculcate good habits in our children to turn them into good citizens in the future with a positive outlook in life.
Follow the below practices daily to raise your kids into healthy, responsible and happy adults:
1. Wake them up early. As already discussed in one of my previous blogs, getting up before the sun raises has lot of health benefits. Children will be active and alert too. You can feel the difference yourself by getting up late one day and early one day.
2. Make them drink one or two glasses water to start with, on an empty stomach. (You can also follow this practice irrespective of your age). The benefits of drinking water on an empty stomach are numerous. I will discuss with you a few of them:
- This helps in cleansing the colon which in turn increases the efficiency of the intestines to absorb nutrients.
- It helps to flush out toxins from the system, as a result your body will stay fresh and healthy and reduces acidity.
- If your kid is overweight due to his/her lifestyle, he/she will lose weight.
- It keeps your kid’s skin healthy.
The above are a few benefits of drinking water. There are many more, but the important ones I have mentioned for your reference. Gradually increase the water intake on an empty stomach to half a liter (500 mL). This will keep the kid’s kidneys also active.
3. Make it a habit for the children to pray to God twice a day, once in the morning before leaving home and once in the evening or at bedtime. This makes them have faith in the Creator. I know many houses where children question about the existence of God. Have patience to explain about God. Read bedtime stories for them. Include some moral stories in them, so that children will be able to distinguish between the good and the bad, the outcome of doing good things and the bad things.
4. Draw a time table and assign subjects according to the time table. But the first and the foremost thing that you should make the child do is solve mathematical problems. As already discussed in my previous blog, solving a mathematical problem as the first thing in the morning makes the child develop analytical capacity and improves problem solving skills. This sharpens the mind as lot of thinking is involved. After that you can assign other subjects depending on the free time the child has before leaving for school.
5. After coming back from school in the evening, allot some time for the child to play as this is very much important for the proper growth of the child. Playing makes the child alert, strengthens the bones and makes it strong. It helps in socializing, the kid will make more and more friends, but here again, teach your child to differentiate between the good friends and the bad friends and encourage your child to have only good friends.
6. Cultivate the habit of eating your food at least 2 hours before going to bed. It is a good habit for all in the family to eat your food at least 2 hours prior to going to bed as this will aid in better digestion, else the chances of gaining weight, developing insomnia, heart burn etc, are more.
7. Train them to respect elders and obey them, not to argue unnecessarily. Set aside some time for watching TV programs which are educative ones instead of the useless ones. Children should learn something good by watching such programs and not cultivate bad habits watching programs on TV. The programs that they watch should improve their knowledge.
8. Engage them in beneficial classes like yoga, music, drawing and painting, arts and crafts etc. which are creative and bring out the better personality in them as all these classes need concentration and patience.
9. Encourage your children to read out story books instead of wasting time on computer games or unwanted TV shows, or mobile phones, all of which have their negative impact. Be wise while allowing your children to watch TV programs and supervise their activities, so that you know the happenings.
10. Be friendly with them. Don’t be too strict or harsh with them. After all they are your children, your blood and flesh. Enjoy each and every minute that you spend with them, because once they grow up, they will go their ways. Then as people belonging to older generation, you should not suffer from “Empty Nest Syndrome.” Don’t have too many expectations from your children.
11. Accept the fact that they are growing up and you are growing old gracefully and don’t expect too many returns from your children. After all it is your duty as a responsible parent and you have raised your children in the right direction.
12. As children grow up, they will spend less and less time with parents, because their world starts changing gradually and you will have more and more time for yourself. Be good friends than strict parents. Give them confidence and support them emotionally, strengthen the bond between yourself and your child.
13. Make them gain confidence in you which will strengthen the bond between the parents and children. Whenever time permits, take your children for outings, because once they grow up they will have their lives and all that will be left with you is those memories. Your memories should be sweet ones and not bitter ones.
All the best and happy parenting.