Teaching Kids Healthy Habits

Habits that children develop during their early years often stick with them throughout their lives, for better or worse. By encouraging healthy habits, we can help children avoid a range of health problems and improve their overall quality of life as they age.

Every Kid Healthy Week takes place annually during the last full week of April, this year falling between April 24-28. The initiative is designed to raise awareness about the importance of creating healthy home and school environments and promoting healthy eating, physical activity, nutrition education and overall well-being.

“Teaching kids healthy habits at a time when their brains are most malleable is important for setting the foundation for a healthy and happy life,” says Melanie Hellrood, MD, Aspirus Family Health Physician. “My advice for parents is to model good habits yourself and find teachable moments in everyday life that support the ones that you’re trying to instill in them.” 

With help from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) and Child Mind Institute (CMI), Aspirus offers these six healthy habits for you and your family to implement at home:

1. Get moving. Moving more is good for physical health, but it also can boost your child’s energy, self-confidence, relaxation and grades in school. Kids between the ages of six and 17 need at least 60 minutes of activity over the course of the day. Make it fun for the whole family with activities such as after-school bike rides or living room dance parties.
2. Load up on fruits and veggies. Eating habits start early, so help your child build a healthy eating routine to last a lifetime. Show them what a diet that’s rich in vitamin-packed fruits and vegetables looks like.“Ask your child to join you in cooking family meals, grocery shopping for nutritious foods and preparing their school snacks and lunches,” adds Dr. Hellrood. “Share the benefits of eating these delicious foods such as strong bones and teeth, healthy skin and lower risk of diseases.”
3. Swap out sugary drinks. Having drinks with added sugars, such as soda and sports drinks, can make it hard for your child to get the nutrients they need without getting too many calories. Try offering plain water first, choose low-fat or fat-free milk and keep sparkling water on hand to drink on special occasions in the place of soda. You can also add plain or sparkling water to 100 percent fruit juice to reduce calories.
4. Practice mindfulness. Mindfulness is a great skill for kids to learn. It’s a meditation practice that helps them face daily challenges. The idea is that when they pay attention to breathing out and breathing in, they start to feel calm inside. Then they can learn to notice their feelings, even upsetting ones. This gives them time to decide what they want to do about the upsetting feeling, rather than reacting immediately. 
5. Skip the screen. On average, children ages eight to 12 in the United States spend four to six hours a day watching or using screens, and teens spend up to nine hours, according to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). While screens can entertain, teach, and keep children occupied, too much use may lead to problems. Parents can set examples with their own device use by setting limits such as turning off the TV during dinner and making bedrooms “no-screen zones.”
6. Stay on top of annual well-child checkups. Regular visits with a primary care provider (PCP) are an important part of a child’s preventative health care. In addition to monitoring growth and development, screening for health conditions and receiving necessary vaccinations, well-child checkups provide a great opportunity for the PCP to offer any advice around healthy habit formation.

Encouraging children to make healthy choices and providing them with the resources and support they need can set them up for a healthy, long and fulfilling life. Talk to your child’s PCP for more information about healthy changes your family can be making at home.

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