The habits that we develop in our childhood accompany us into our adulthood, which is why it’s super important to teach your kids the importance of healthy habits from the get-go.

Here’s how to introduce healthier habits to your children.

Get The Whole Family Involved

Children are like sponges; they absorb everything in their environment.

Getting your whole family in on developing healthy habits can have a positive effect on your children. Family patterns related to health include the level of closeness, flexibility, and a supportive environment. By getting the whole family to develop healthy habits, you’ll be teaching your children the importance of health. They’ll mimic the behavior that they see, and in turn, they’ll be more likely to develop healthier habits.

Make It Fun

Forcing your children to develop healthy habits through negative reinforcement or punishment will do more bad than good. For example, if you force your children to exercise strictly and regularly, they’ll end up liking it less. Instead, get them to pick an after school sports activity, or involve your whole family in exercising! Research shows that parents are likely to positively influence a child’s development in their early years, so engaging with them while trying to incorporate healthy habits will work out in your favor. Take them to the park with you to get them to jog, enroll yourselves in fun dance classes, or take them to a family skating rink.

Get Them Involved in the Kitchen

If your children are super picky eaters and refuse to eat anything other than Mac ‘n’ Cheese, getting them to help out in the kitchen will allow them to become much more open minded about different types of food. Involving your children in the food preparing process in the kitchen won’t only serve as memorable family bonding time, but it’ll also help educate them about the importance of nutritious food and a healthy lifestyle. As a result, when your kids are older and off to college, they’ll be less likely to reach for the junk food aisle

The most important place that your children learn healthy habits is at their daycare center, where they spend most of their time. This means you need to choose the best daycare center for them.

The Whole Child Development Center is one of the best after school programs and child and infant day care centers based in Lenexa, KS. Offering affordable child care, we have a host of programs designed for children of all ages. With individual attention to all children and stimulating activities, we’ve been ranked among the best day care centers in Lenexa.

Get in touch with us to find out more.