For some reason, harmful habits easily take root and healthy ones are quickly forgotten. And yet they make our lives better! Here are some good ideas to get inspired by!
When we eat together, we tend to reach for healthier foods than when we eat alone or on the run. We tend to eat more vegetables and cereals and less often processed and fatty foods. According to research, children who eat meals together as a family get better grades and are much less likely to use alcohol, cigarettes and other drugs.
If your loved ones are eating meals separately now, don’t expect everyone to gather around the dinner table overnight. Start with two dinners together a week and stick to it. Over time, increase the frequency until sharing meals becomes a daily occurrence.
Shared meals also provide an opportunity to talk about what happened in each family member’s life that day. Above all, let your child speak. Mental state, sleep, experiences at school, interactions with other people – all these things are closely connected, and if something is bothering or disturbing your child, it will certainly affect his or her well-being.
Cooking together brings family members closer together and builds memories. The kitchen is the heart of the home around which family life revolves, so it’s the perfect place for gatherings around the table. Let’s make your child an active participant in the kitchen and thank him or her for their help. The whole family will benefit.
Movement is one of the best and proven methods for staying in good shape. Unfortunately, there’s so much interesting stuff happening on screens these days that parents have to make a real effort to get their kids to put down their devices and go outside. This is where the example that parents set is very important. It is good when the whole family goes to the beach, a walk in the woods or a bike ride. Such leisure time not only promotes health, but also strengthens family ties.
If your family members open a stocked refrigerator and despairingly say, “There’s nothing to eat,” it’s a sign that there’s a shortage of simple and healthy snacks that you can just reach for. These could be roasted or sliced raw vegetables, hummus or roasted chickpeas.
Set times during the day when you don’t have any mobile devices with you. Make a rule in your family about where and when everyone takes their eyes off screens without exception.
The best time for this is at the dinner table, before going to bed, and when solving homework assignments. A good idea is to find a place in the house where all family members store their phones for the night. Then no one is tempted to look online when they’re already in bed.
Everyone, parents included, should “switch” to rest mode before they go to bed. It can be an hour spent with a book in hand, it can be some kind of game (just not on a tablet). This way we tune our body for efficient sleep, and we wake up rested in the morning.
Main photo: Jessica Rockowitz/unsplash.com
