10 Good Habits for Better Health For Children

Teach children to follow these habits, daily right from childhood to help earn a healthy body and mind.

Tips for Good Health

Early to Rise, Early to Bed

This is one of the most vital parts of the routine for the children to grow up with. Early dinner followed by a minimum of 1.5 hour gap, a word or two of prayer along with recollecting of the happenings of the day and falling off to sleep is a great routine.
Similarly, waking up early, with a word of prayer and reminding ourselves about the tasks we have to complete, embarks us to a rejuvenating day chasing away the laziness and lethargy.
Make sure the child gets 8-9 hours of sound sleep in a day.

An age old advice to children from parents. So we have a few more important points to add.
Our ancestors lived their life close to nature, includes what they used to maintain their oral hygiene. Neem (Indian Lilac) stick is what they used, we can at least use neem based tooth powder available in stores. Using it as a daily practice while brushing can help a great deal in preventing tooth decays and cavities in children.

Stretching and warming up can energize our body. With an early morning school rush, a dedicated time schedule for children could be hard on them. But squatting 10-20 times before bath and food wouldn’t require much time and also helps the body stretch and relax.

2-3 minutes of standing the morning sun with eyes closed facing the sun, a thorough eye wash and closing the eyes with palms all in a span of 5-7 minutes in the morning are a few basic things to maintain good eye health of children.
Also, include carrot in the child’s daily diet, one serving a day will do for good results in the long run.

There are a lot of tasty options for your bodybuilding and energy giving foods (proteins and carbohydrates). It is equally important to include protective foods (vitamins and minerals) which are found mainly in vegetables and fruits. At least one serving of cooked vegetables and one bowl of any fruit in the child’s is mandatory.
Encourage them to drink a plenty of water. A human has to urinate 5-6 times in a day. Practice the child to keep a count on the number of glasses of water they drink and how many times they used the washroom in a day.

Reading is a must, must habit for children. They get introduced to books generally with stories and tales. As they grow up and learn to read, boost them to read at least a few pages of anything other than stories, fiction and entertainment.
Reading other topics widens their visions, broadens their mind, a very important medicine for mental health.

Outdoor is necessary not for their physical health, but also for boosting their immune system. Not just that. Children playing with other children learn teamwork, patience, tolerance and most importantly resilience.
Games and activities that demand extra physical strain and cause sweating should be encouraged.

Teach your children to chew the food properly and both the sides while eating. This helps digestion easy and also gives a satisfying feel to the hunger that the child may not end up over eating often. Yes, gulping down the food never pleases your hunger or gut.
Also, make sure the mouth is clean after eating and no food particle is stuck between the teeth. Tooth decay happens because of these stuck foods between the teeth.
Let them do not drink water while eating unless necessary, this may make the digestion difficult and the child would complain of stomach pain. Drinking water half an hour before and after meals is a good practice.

Encourage children to engage in some activities on a daily basis that would calm the mind, keeping it free of excitement, anxiety or random thoughts.
Can be anything depending on their age, such as breathing exercises (eg. take slow and deep breaths), meditation, staying silent with closed eyes for a few minutes, gardening/watering the plants, listening to good music, writing, bedtime stories etc., whichever and however they can let out to free their mind.

Eating late dinners and staying up late, both should be avoided. The increase in the number of OTT platforms, movie nights over weekends have become a common family time. Leaving aside those such exemptions, generally a child should be practiced to eat early before sleep in their daily routine.