When you’re raising younger children, the goal of getting them to eat better can always seem out of reach. I know that, with sugary and salty treats regularly available, my kids often naturally gravitate towards one of those options rather than eat the healthy food I put on the table. Fortunately, while it’ll still take a bit of coaching, there are several ways to ensure kids get the nutrients they need. Learn how to get your kids to eat healthier just like mine and, maybe, even enjoy it.
Eat Meals as a Family
When kids sit down for a homemade family meal, they’re more likely to gain an understanding of what’s on their plate. This is how they learn the difference between the food groups and what healthy food looks and tastes like. At my own dinner table, this gives me the power to lead by example and show them what they should be eating by preparing healthier meals. Established meal times also get your children into a routine where they’re less likely to eat filling snacks and provides you with additional opportunity to praise their good choices.
Encourage Them to Drink Water
Along with healthy eating, I also try encouraging them to drink more water rather than sugary juices or soda. Water is proven to assist with the absorption of nutrients into the body, making healthy foods more effective at providing them with the vitamins they need to grow. However, I know that many children, given the choice, will always prefer flavorful drinks over water—this makes it more difficult to change this behavior. Fortunately, there are several ways to make water taste better that you can experiment with to find an alternative that they like.
Keep Healthier Snacks Available
If you want your kids to eat fewer unhealthy snacks, the simplest solution is to stop buying them. As difficult as this may be, trust me—everyone will be better off. However, it’s important to note that you can’t cut snacks out of their diet entirely. Otherwise, you’ll not only get backlash from your kids, but they also won’t be receiving enough energy throughout the day. So, it’s recommended that you replace unhealthy snacks with wholesome alternatives. For example, rather than cookies and chips, try to keep fruits and granola bars available for them instead.
Every new parent has moments of fear. All we want is for our newborns to be safe and healthy, both now and for the rest of their days, but the world is full of hazards. Fortunately, if you keep a level head and take a few steps to educate yourself, you can eliminate many of these concerns. From installing a car seat correctly to seeking out reliable sources of information, here are three safety tips for parents with newborns to keep in mind.
Properly Install the Car Seat
A safe and secure car seat is suddenly the most important feature of your car. That’s why you need to follow all directions carefully to ensure that you set it up correctly. Until your baby is a year old, their car seat should face backward to protect their neck if they fall forward.
Strap the seat in correctly, and make sure all seatbelts are secure and locked. Additionally, stay on top of height and weight requirements as your baby grows so you can always have the safest car seat for them.
A huge part of keeping your newborn safe is simply learning more and getting your information from reliable sources. Find a doctor that you trust, and don’t be afraid to ask questions or seek advice. There are a lot of different parenting techniques and opinions, so it’s important to seek out dependable, accurate resources.
Do your research on common topics like the myths surrounding vaccines or whether you should sleep train. No matter what you decide, it’s essential to make these decisions from an educated, level-headed standpoint.
Trust Your Instincts
Being a new parent is nerve-wracking, but one of the best safety tips for parents with newborns is to trust your own instincts. If something feels off, unsafe, or otherwise wrong to you, don’t ignore it. At the end of the day, you always have your baby’s best interests at heart. Trust yourself to make the right decision for you and your newborn, and you’ll find yourself with a safe, healthy, and happy newborn.
Additional recommended reading:
This isolation is hard—it was tough from the beginning, and the longer it goes, the more we question how long we can hold out at home. We keep telling ourselves the reasons and how important it is for us to stay home so our loved ones and those immunocompromised stay healthy. Still, though we understand why it’s happening, our kids may not. Chances are, they’re going even more stir-crazy than we are, which is why it’s essential to keep the kids moving throughout all this madness. Here are some excellent ways to keep kids active during self-isolation, which will get them outside (to the backyard, at least!) and burning off some of that bubbling energy. Try them out!
Try Out Some P.E. Games
Kids are missing out on quite a bit of physical education, and if you’re homeschooling, you might be short on ideas for the kiddos. Take some awesome outdoor gym ideas for P.E. teachers, and see how you can refine them for your home and your yard. Maybe you can play kickball in the backyard or set up a fitness circuit using your driveway and the basketball hoop. Or you could ask the kids to teach you what they were learning in P.E.!
Head Out on Daily Walks
It’s important to stay at home, but if you do need to get out of your house—and you will—take the kids with you on walks. Don’t go to the park that everybody else is going to because that’s not exactly social distancing, but go on a walk around the block or head to the closest nature park and hit the trails. Getting in little spurts of outdoor air will make the time inside not seem so rough—for the kids and you!
Turn them into a superhero for the day!
Turn on Some Music and Have a Dance Party
Dancing is a fantastic way to get the overloaded energy out of the kids. Turn on some of their favorite tunes, move the furniture, and make space for lots of dancing. You can try out easy online dance classes for kids, but if that’s not working, just get their feet moving and their body’s twisting. Dance is sure to raise their endorphins, so if you notice anybody in a particularly gloomy state, this is the medicine!
Put Video Games to The Test
Do you have video games that the kids are obsessed with? Pop in a game that will get them moving! There’s Wii Fit, Just Dance, Wii Sports, Shape Up, and more! Or tell them that they need to do 15 minutes of exercise every 30 minutes they play video games. The more you implement movement into little parts of the day, the more active they’ll stay.
If your kid is in any sport or wants to be, this is the perfect time to start practicing some skills and techniques. Take your little soccer player to the backyard for some dribbling and passing drills. Or maybe you can use the front yard as a little gymnastics mat. Use the time to work on some of those skills that the kids aren’t quite sure about, and watch them grow during this time!
Additional recommended reading: