Healthy habits for kids sometimes seem impossible to keep up.
Tonight, as I rushed to get beans on toast on the table for my two kiddos (again!), I gave a little sigh.
Honestly, I’d love to be the Mom who always gives her kids organic, made from scratch, nutritious meals.
But in between work, parent teacher conferences, family and oh, say the need to pee or have five minutes of peace to myself, it just doesn’t always happen.
Healthy Habits for Kids
Life’s busy and complicated, and as much as we’d like too, it can be difficult to create perfectly balanced, nutritional meals for our little ones.
So maybe it’s time to give up working to be perfect, and try to work a bit smarter instead. These seven easy hacks to make your kids healthier today are easy to implement and bring big peace of mind.
Let Them Cook
If you want your kids to eat healthier foods, include them in the process. Let them help slice, dice, stir and pour when you are in the kitchen mixing up dinner. Whether it is a hearty vegetable soup they helped to make, or a fresh vegetable stir fry – having their hand in making it will undoubtedly make it more savory for them to test out.
Shaped Fruits & Veggies
Finger foods are always a hit, but go a step further by cutting fruits and vegetables into fun shapes. Stars, hearts, dinos or letters for them to play with while they eat will help them to eat things they might otherwise avoid.
Exercise As A Family
Get involved in a family sport like softball, soccer or hiking. Workout together on a regular basis. Leading by example goes a long way toward helping them see exercise as a fun regular part of life instead of something they dread.
Make exercise fun, too. Let them run in circles, and play in puddles. Anything to get their bodies moving!
Earlier Bedtimes
One of the most important healthy habits for kids to make sure your kids get the right amount of sleep.
More sleep will help their body to heal, grow, change and use the fuel it has been given properly. Set bedtimes a half hour to one hour earlier and encourage them to rest properly.
Gummy or Chewable Vitamins
A daily multi-vitamin is an excellent choice for helping your children have all the vitamins and nutrients they need. This is especially handy for parents of picky kids who limit fruit & veggie intake. Watch for organic or natural vitamins that have limited or no sugar added for ultimate benefit.
Skip The Juice
Juice is one of the most commonly purchased items of parents of kids. Unfortunately, the benefits aren’t always what they are cracked up to be.
Limit juice and encourage your children to drink water and eat fresh fruit instead. Not only are you eliminating big calories from their diet, you are probably removing added sugars and potential cavities. Too much juice can cause dental issues, weight gain and a dependence on sugary drinks instead of much healthier water a growing kid’s body needs.
Hide The Veggies
Sometimes you just have to sneak veggies like kale and spinach into things like smoothies, soups, chili, wraps and even muffins. Tomatoes, zucchini, sweet potatoes and carrots are all super easy to add to many of your favorite menu items.
Having more healthy habits for kids doesn’t have to require a complete makeover of their lives. It simple requires dedication and using some simple little hacks to make your kids healthier like the ones listed above. Think outside the box to include healthier food, more activity and less sedentary lifestyle for ultimate health benefits.
From how they eat, to how active they are – you can help them to build a healthier lifestyle at a young age that will carry over into the rest of their life.
Looking for more great healthy habits for kids? Check out these 5 minute tips for healthier kids on the CDC website.