kids health tips Archives - Mother 2 Mother Blog

Making Health Choices for Kids

December 6, 2020 by Rhonda Gales 2 Comments

Today, I’m sharing parenting tips on making health choices for kids. As a parent, one of your primary responsibilities is to care for the health and wellbeing of your children. This is accomplished in many ways, from providing moral support and guidance, to offering tough love when they need it! But, when it comes to the physical health of your kids, it can be hard to know what’s best. This is particularly true while your children are still young. For example, too young to have a serious opinion on their own treatment. So, how can you know what the right choice is, and what factors can guide you to make it?

Making Health Choices for Kids:

Take Your Child’s Thoughts Seriously

Though your children may be too young to make decisions about their health, you still consider their feelings and any concerns. It’s always a good idea to be honest with them as well. Talk to your children about any health concerns, be honest and pay attention to their thoughts and feelings. Any health choices you make should take their thoughts and feelings into consideration. As the adult, make decisions that are best for them even when they don’t agree. This include something as simple as eating more vegetables or making other changes in their diet. You don’t need them to agree with the changes, they are children. It is your responsibility to do what’s best for them, not do what they want you to do. However, consider their feelings and think about the best way to implement any changes.

For example, give them more of the vegetables they do like. Most kids don’t know or care about gluten free products.

Speak to Community Leaders

If you’re unsure how a health choice fits with your faith and cultural practices, talk to a faith leader. They may be able to help you choose between two similar paths. Especially, if one of them is more in keeping with your religion. However, always remember that these faith leaders are not doctors, though they will absolutely have your best interests at heart.

Listen to Doctors

Always listen to your child’s doctors! They are trained professionals about who know what treatment is needed for your children. For example, many people can get squeamish about the idea of having their child circumcised. However, it has been proven that ZSR circumcision reduces the risk of cancer, UTIs, and many other infections, later in life. Long term benefits may often outweigh short-term discomforts, and your doctors will be able to advise you when this is the case.

Question Your Presumptions

You will have been been raised with your own set of presumptions, ideas, and expectations for how to live a healthy life. However, it’s important to remember that these presumptions will always change with time and scientific advances. Many years ago, people thought that smoking cigarettes was actively healthy, and now we know very differently! Remember, replicating how you were treated as a child is not necessarily the best option for your own kids.

Your Child Comes First

Through any choice you make, your child comes first. So, always keep their best interest at heart when making any decisions about their health. It’s your responsibility to help them live their best life, and that includes making good choices and helping them make good choices.

Keeping Your Kids Healthy During the Holidays

December 4, 2019 by Rhonda Gales Leave a Comment

The holidays are here, and with them a variety of health concerns: the cold, the flu, and the holiday fat. Today, I’m sharing parenting advice on keeping your kids healthy during holidays. The holiday season can be amazing. But, between the flu bug and the holiday overeating our best intentions for health and fitness can awry.

Here are 5 tips to keeping your kids healthy:

1). Make Sure They See the Doctor

First, are your kids current on their pediatrician visits? Your pediatrician can evaluate their overall health and identify any pressing issues as well as keep them current on their vaccinations,

According to Families First Pediatrics in South Jordan, UT, it’s a good idea to bring your children in around the beginning of holiday season. Vaccinations are an important concern. Especially with the flu and other nasty bugs going around. But, there may be other issues you may want to address head-on so you can have a good holiday season.

So, be sure to ask about any health concerns you may have. Furthermore, their vitamin levels. Are they getting enough Vitamin D and/or Vitamin E? Discuss this concern with your doctor.

2). Let Them Have Sick Days

It’s likely that you’ll have to deal with some runny noses, coughs, and sniffles during the holiday season. As a result, it’s a good idea to allow your children to have a sick day or two now. Push them to go to school could end up with them missing more days and exposing other children in their classes.

3). Keep Everyone Moving

It can be very easy to let physical activity fall by the wayside during the holidays. After all, everyone’s busy celebrating and eating lots of delicious food. Furthermore, there’s a good chance it’s a lot colder outside and the days are shorter. Admittedly, winter may present you with some of your biggest tests, but there are a few tried and true ways to getting your kids physically active and healthy.

For example, walk as much as possible. A brisk walk in the cold can be refreshing. Walking a few blocks with the family after dinner can be a good source of exercise and a chance to burn calories. When you return, cozy up to the fire and play a game. Also, try to find opportunities to be physically active indoors. Yoga, which requires very little room or special equipment, can be done by practically anyone. This includes kids as well as adults.

No parent condones running inside, but sled riding or building a snowman can be fun if you have snow in your area. A day at the roller skating or ice skating rink can be fun too. If it’s not too cold riding bikes around the neighborhood can be fun.

4). Hand Hygiene

Hand hygiene is also important not only during the holidays, but throughout the year. It’s flu season, and colds are common as well. Make sure your kids adhere to frequent hand-washing after using the restroom, before meals, and after blowing their noses. A simple bar of soap should suffice for all hand-washing needs.

5). Look for Healthy Food Alternatives

You’re likely to get a lot of resistance to healthier meal planning for the holidays. So, “Hey guys, we’re going to try some healthier versions of all our favorite holiday foods!” is likely to get you push back. Unfortunately, for many kids and many adults, when they hear “healthier” they think it means “terrible and icky”.

Instead, make brownies using black beans instead of flour or cookies made with bananas instead of butter. Serve them to your children without explanation of what’s in them. Let them enjoy these treats without realizing they’re eating something different.

Conclusion

Being healthy for the holidays can help everyone enjoy them. From careful hand hygiene to paying attention to what you eat, these 5 tips should help you get the most out of your holiday season.

Filed Under: Health Tagged With: healthy kids, Holiday ideas, kids health tips

Why Do We Have Obese Children?

April 3, 2017 by Rhonda Gales

I love seeing young families. I decided to take my grandson to a near-by park so that we could spend quality time together. The park is small and located in a middle class neighborhood. We were there for approximately an hour, and during that time period I witnessed one other family out with their child. Lets count, 2 children in the park.

It was a beautiful day, so I wondered where the children were. There was a nice trail for the kids to ride bikes or take a walk as a family. So, why weren’t families in the park on such a beautiful day? Again, it was in a nice neighborhood so safety shouldn’t have been a concern. It bothered me so much, that when we went back to the house and I scoured the neighborhood. Unfortunately, there was not a child in sight. Why aren’t our children riding bikes through the neighborhood or playing hopscotch? I remember playing hopscotch for hours on Saturdays after breakfast and using my roller skates. If we weren’t playing either of those games, we walked around the neighborhood going nowhere in particular.

I spent Saturdays at the roller skating rink with my daughter and for 12 years chauffeured her back and forth to dance classes. I spent another 3 years watching her cheer our high school basket and football team on and running track on the off season. We moved on to college where she danced and her now husband played football. Not every child will be athletic, but we can teach them to move and monitor what they eat, can’t we.

Two people came to mind while I was thinking about the non-existent children in the neighborhood and park. First Maury Povich. Why Maury? Because Maury has brought light to the problems that obese children will endure and how we as parents contribute to that problem. I’ve watched Maury when he has featured children who are severely overweight. I’m not talking about 5 or 10 pounds, but 30, 40 and 50 pounds overweight and they were only 3, 4 or 5 years old. Can you image what they will encounter in school. These children were eating whole pizzas, 3 – 4 pieces of chicken, a dozen doughnuts or cupcakes, and drinking liters of soda. It was one of the saddest shows that I ever witnessed. They were literally feeding their child to death.

Second, I thought about Michelle Obama and the work she did on childhood obesity with the Lets Move campaign. Children are obese because they are inside playing computer games or pasted to the sofa watching TV. While they are watching TV and playing computer games, they are over eating. We’ve allowed our children to become “couch potatoes”. We’re not spending time together experiencing the great outdoors. The sound of children running and playing is missed in the neighborhood. I miss seeing moms sitting in the park mingling with other moms and watching their children play.

Furthermore, I know times have changed and we can’t let our children run around most neighborhoods unsupervised, but we can encourage our children to get outside and move. And we can monitor what they eat. If we as parents aren’t encouraging our children to move, how will they learn about exercise and being healthy. If we aren’t setting limits, and providing healthy meals how will they know about healthy eating?

We live in the land of good and plenty, and we are some of the most obese people in the world. I decided to join the Lets Move movement. Not only for my grandchildren, but for myself as well. I want to join my daughter and son-in-law in setting an example for my grandchildren. Exercise has not been at the top of my list, but I’m striving to change that each day. I make it a point to take walks with my grandchildren when they visit, and when I visit them. We will go to the park, ride bicycles, and shot hoops in the driveway. I don’t want my grandchildren to become one of America’s statistics.

The struggle with diabetes, high blood pressure and other diseases associated with being overweight is real. I want to a part of the solution, not the problem. Finally, how do you feel about obesity in our country? What outdoor activities do you with your child? Leave us a comment, we would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. You may also like 10 Tips To Get Your Child Moving.

Filed Under: Health, Parenting Tips Tagged With: healthy living, kids health tips, Lets Move, obese children, parks

How to Get Your Kids to Be More Physically Active

April 3, 2017 by Rhonda Gales Leave a Comment

Getting kids to move from the bed to the couch and away from the video games or the TV is getting more and more difficult. Furthermore, our children are becoming more obese because they no longer get physical exercise. Their diet is filled with junk foods like fries, sodas, milkshakes and sweet snacks. None of it does much to help their health. Today, I’m sharing parenting tips on how to get your kids moving.

Diabetes, anxiety, childhood obesity and heart problems are a few grave risks that children with unhealthy lifestyles face. Physical activity is important for everyone; however, for kids it is crucial. Physical activity helps kids develop strong bones, maintain a healthy weight and increase their confidence level and social skills. An active body is also less susceptible to developing type 2 diabetes and more likely to have better sleep and mental health.

Kids should get as much physical activity as possible, but an hour a day is the minimum amount of time that they should be active. Kids are often annoyed when their favorite video game is taken away. Regardless, parents must make sure that they go outdoors and move their bodies. To get your kids moving try our kids exercise tips:

Find a fun activity – Instead of just sending your kids to the park or outside to play, help them find an activity that excites them. It may be a martial arts or a dance class. Additionally, it could be something as simple as getting them a basketball hoop. The can play basketball in the drive way with neighborhood kids or siblings. The more they enjoy the activity, the easier it will be for you to get to do it.
Be an active role model – If you are an active role model, the kids will look forward to physical activity. You can either join in on the fun with them or you can do your own exercise near by. Seeing you can directly influence them. Most kids enjoy imitating their parents, so this should work for the both of you.
Teach or learn a new skill together – Find the time to teach your kids cycling, skateboarding, skipping and other fun physical activities. If there is something you would like to learn that make it even better. You can learn together. There are many sports that both parents and kids can learn together like tennis, baseball or golf.
More active toys – Children will be more inclined to turning off the TV if they have exciting toys to play with. Instead of investing in all the newest iPads, consoles and video games, keep active toys in the house. When you want them to head outside and play, give a ball, jump ropes, or Frisbee.

It’s estimated by a study that currently only 1 out of 3 kids are physically active in the U.S. While kids spend more than 7 hours playing and watching videos on their phones, computers, and other devices. Today, more than ever, our kids require a healthy, active lifestyle. Keeping them healthy now will help lead them towards a healthier adulthood.

We hope that you found our tips on how to get your kids moving helpful, and you will implement a few into their life. You may also like Water Infused Drinks Your Kids Will Love.

About the author: James Smith is a survivalist, who loves to write about survival skills and techniques. Currently, he is working for Teotwawki Supplies, offering a complete range of survival and emergency kits. Follow him on twitter @jamessmith1609.