The Importance of Teaching Health & Wellness to Your Children

This post is written by Frankie Wallace.

Parenting is never easy. But it’s particularly difficult at the moment as the global pandemic continues to wreak havoc with our daily lives, there are floods in KZN and conflicts around the world cause heightened stress for children and adults alike.

As a mother, you might feel at wit’s end in the face of these stressors. But, regardless of all these events, it’s always a good idea to get back to basics and teach your children the fundamentals of health and wellness. This will help them stay safe during outbreaks and will give them the tools they need to live healthy, happy lives.

However, addressing health and wellness with your child can sometimes place them under heightened stress, and they may try to zone you out altogether if conversations about their wellbeing lead to arguments. So, here are a few ways you can productively teach your child about health and wellness.

Stress and Anxiety

Children are feeling the effect of life in the pandemic. They might be stressed out due to news they don’t quite understand, and social distancing from their friends and school peers may have caused them to experience anxiety and loneliness.

As a parent, you can help your child become a little more resilient by showing them that you care about their feelings and that you’ll be there for them during periods of heightened stress. You can start by normalizing stressful events like visiting the dentist’s office. Try to use positive reinforcement as much as possible, and give them control over things like the music you listen to while driving or where to sit in the waiting room.

It’s also worth noting that your child will look to you and follow your example during stressful periods. Knowing this, it can be tempting to put on a brave face and hide your emotions. But, instead of bottling up your emotions, consider being honest with your child about your own stress. After opening up a little, be sure to reassure them that both you and they have the resilience to live a healthy, happy life even when life is a little more challenging than usual.

Screen Usage

Children today have grown up in the digital age. In some ways, this sets them up for future success where digital literacy will be necessary to find rewarding careers. However, too much use of tech can lead to screen addiction which negatively impacts the health and wellness of many children.

One issue that children with screen addiction may face is called “Computer vision syndrome”. Computer vision syndrome occurs when your child spends too much time at a computer or looking at a screen. Typically this results in vision issues like eye strains, blurred vision, dry eyes, and irritability.

As a parent, you have to actively manage your child’s access to screens to ensure they don’t develop a screen addiction. This doesn’t mean you need to take away screens altogether — particularly as there are tonnes of educational resources that are available to children through TVs, tablets, and phones. Instead, you need to have an honest conversation with them about how screen addiction can affect their health, and agree upon limits to screen time.

Diet and Nutrition

A healthy relationship with food is essential for childhood development. However, in South Africa, 75,000 children are obese, and 1.5 million children have had their development stunted by malnutrition. As a parent, you must do your utmost to provide your child with a healthy, balanced diet that promotes their overall wellbeing.

When cooking for your child, it may be tempting to run your kitchen like Fort Knox and only allow your child to eat what you want them to eat. However, this will leave children feeling disconnected from the process of cooking and preparing food and may prevent them from developing a healthy relationship with their diet.

Instead, try to agree upon a meal plan that works well for you and is appealing to them. This will look different depending upon your child’s age and preferences, but should generally involve whole grains, minimal added sugar, and a variety of protein sources. You can even allow them to help you as you put together your meal with basic tasks like finding the ingredients or reading the labels so they have a better understanding of what they’re eating and how it impacts their health.

Conclusion

Every parent wants to do the best for their child’s health and wellness. However, it’s easy to become overbearing and create negative associations between healthy living and excessive strictness. You can teach your child how to live a healthy and fulfilling life by involving them in the decision-making process, and by showing them that you respect their feelings and understand the stress they may be experiencing. As your child gets older, try to give them greater autonomy over things like screen time and meal plans, as this will help them develop healthier habits that they follow even without your supervision.