Teaching Your Child About Nutrition & Exercise
As children, nutrition and exercise is not something that crosses their minds very often. This usually falls on the shoulders of parents to ensure that their children are eating a healthy balanced diet as well as getting daily physical exercise. However, it is very important to teach children the importance of nutrition and exercise and how to come about it themselves. Children will usually be taught a basic level of nutrition and exercise in the early years of their academic journey but it is still important for them to understand it thoroughly at home. There are many simple ways that this can be done. Here is some advice on teaching your child about nutrition and exercise.
As parents, you have control over the type of food that comes into your house when shopping. To ensure your child understands the importance of nutrition from an early age, make sure the food that comes into your house and fills the drawers is nutritious and healthy. Children tend to reach for whatever they can find when they’re hungry. Making nutritious foods readily available in your home is a great way for children to understand why good food is the way forward. If you would like to show your child how to control the serving size, consider chopping up healthy snacks and storing them at eye level for your child. Snack draws can still be full of foods that are yummy such as rice cakes, popcorn and bread sticks. Keeping junk food out of the drawers is one of the easiest ways to teach your child about nutrition.
Reach for books that teach your child about nutrition and exercise and discuss why it is important. Choose books at the library or the bookstore that have a good message on nutrition and physical exercise. Ask your child along the way what they have learnt and what the moral of the story was. You can also ask them what they think good foods and bad foods are.
If you are trying to find ways to teach your child importance of nutrition and exercise, model the behaviour first. Your child will pick up your habits before anyone else’s. take them on regular walks and bike rides. Enrol them onto extracurricular classes that support physical activity. Cook healthy balanced meals they are full of nutrition. Model the positive value of it and eventually your child will begin to see that consistency and making good choices is what leads to health and happiness.
