Fun Ways to Help Your Kids Develop Heart-Healthy Habits

Healthy habits need to be developed early on in a child’s life—the sooner, the better. As parents, we know this, but that doesn’t always make it easier to get our kids to eat vegetables at dinnertime or to turn off the Xbox and go outside. Here are a few strategies you can use to help your kids develop heart-healthy habits that will hopefully stick with them as they grow.

Make meals important

Eating dinners as a family will help show your child how important it is to eat healthy, and will give you time to come together intentionally and regularly. Breakfasts can sometimes fall by the wayside amid busy schedules, but even a grab-and-go meal is better than skipping it entirely. Packing lunches the night before school or work can be a good meal-and-time-anxiety reducer (something I lived with for years before re-strategizing and just making the darn sandwiches at night). You can even recruit your kids to help you, or to pack their own. Come up with every trick you can to help you get in good meals for everyone while still making it easy on yourself.

Get the whole family involved

Get together as a family and decide on some activities to do together.  Let even the little ones have a say in the activities, taking turns if necessary. Go for walks or bike rides, swim, plant trees, or any number of other things that your family enjoys, but whatever you do, try and do it together. They could be outdoor activities, or (if you live in a place that has a real winter), you can decide on some indoor games while the weather is uncooperative.

Provide active alternatives to sitting indoors

According to a study done by the Mayo Clinic, kids who spend more than two hours per day staring at a TV are at a far greater health risk than those who don’t. Instead of just limiting TV time, think up fun, active alternatives for your child. You can get the whole family involved in this too, and go on family bike rides around the neighborhood when the weather is nice.

Expose them to many activities

Playing catch is not for everyone, and neither is gardening. Exposing kids early on to a variety of outdoor activities will allow them to find out what they enjoy so that being outside isn’t a punishment.

Always model good habits

Kids will model what parents and big kids do, so be conscious of what habits you might have that you wouldn’t want your little ones to pick up. Of course, nobody is perfect, but identifying the places that you need to work on to become healthier sets a great example, and will teach them that making healthy choices is important for the entire family.

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