While it’s a simple fact that healthy kids turn into healthy adults, the opposite is also true! So, as a caring and proactive parent, it’s up to you to make the decision to help your children adopt healthy habits and reach their full potential.
Read on for three tips that will be sure to put your kids on the right track. After all, you’re the one who is setting the example for your kid’s lifelong health!

Change your habits first

The first and most essential thing that we can do to help kids to adopt healthy exercise habits is for us, as parents, to adopt healthy exercise habits. It’s well-established that the habits of parents affect the health of their children Children adopt the speech patterns of their parents, the mannerism of their parents, and the physiology of their parents. It follows, then, that children also adopt the exercise habits of their parents. So whether your exercise habits are healthy or not-so-healthy, your children are watching. Decide that you want to be a good role model for your children when it comes to exercise habits, then make sure that your children see you doing the right thing. Before long, it will be a family tradition!

Eat dinner together

In addition to exercising, diet is very important to health. Yes, the food part is essential, but there’s actually much more to meal time than baked chicken and mashed potatoes. The social element to meal time is significant and it brings you closer to people with whom you share meals. This is true of adults sharing meals, and also parents sharing meals with their children. Studies have shown that there are physical, emotional, and psychological positives that result from parents eating meals with their children. So even if it seems like a hassle, try to make it a priority to sit down for a family meal as often as possible.

Get help from a national program

Use resources already available to you, like the ABCDE program from the American Psychological Association

Act Boldly to Change Diet and Exercise

The site explains that as the parent, you are the role model for good health practices, and the gatekeeper for letting unhealthy food into your home. Not only that, but you are the taste-setter for your child’s food preferences and the advocate for making positive changes in your child’s life. So bone up on what good and bad diet and exercise choices, and then put those into play in your family.
What are some of your favorite habits to help kids exercise and adopt a healthy lifestyle?