Good Habits Every Parent Should Teach Their Child
Every good parent wants to pass on valuable knowledge to their child. While good educational institutes such as this Shanghai international school promote good values, it’s crucial for a parent to establish a good foundation of good habits from the get-go. According to experts, here are some of the best habits to teach kids from an early age.
#1 Don’t skip breakfast
“Break” “Fast” – it’s in the word. Breakfast is the meal where you break your fast (when you don’t eat at night). Some say it’s the most important meal of the day, and that certainly makes sense. Without good nutrition in the morning, it’s hard for the brain and body to get the energy they need. This means that kids will find it hard to listen and focus at school.
#2 Eat well
Not skipping breakfast is one step in the right direction, but regularly eating the wrong kind of breakfast, or any meal, isn’t much better. It’s ok to have a treat once in a while, but frequently eating sugary and fatty foods does no service to our bodies.
Our bodies need a whole range of vitamins and nutrients that we get from different foods. An easy way to teach young kids how to eat a balanced diet is getting them to count the number of colors in their meal – usually, the wider the variety of colors, the better balanced the meal.
#3 Don’t be a couch potato
What’s a couch potato? This is somebody who spends all day or evening playing games, watching television or videos on the tablet – they just won’t get off the couch. Everybody likes relaxing on the sofa once in a while. And an hour or two a day isn’t so bad. But it’s important to get daily exercise into the family routine too.
Try exercising as a family, but don’t make it a chore. Do something fun together like badminton, basketball, or rock climbing. When kids see that parents love exercising, it makes them fall in love with exercising too.
#4 Read daily
Most parents know that reading is incredibly important for their child. But despite this, only around 50% of kids read every day, even though this is proven to be the best way to teach and improve reading. Remember, your child doesn’t need to read for a super long time to feel the benefits, with around 20 minutes of daily reading time being ideal for a grade 1 student.
#5 Drink water
Did you know that around 60% of our body is made from water? It’s amazing how easy it is to forget to drink enough water. Kids aged 4-8 should be drinking around seven cups of water a day. When we don’t drink enough water, our bodies become dehydrated – we don’t function as well as usual and are more prone to getting sick.
#6 Appreciate loved ones
We all love our families, but do we always show it enough? Sometimes it’s a good idea to go to a little more effort than usual and make sure that our families know how much we appreciate them.
Spending time together as a family can have wonderful, lasting effects on both children and parents. Try making dinner time a no phone/tablet/TV zone (that goes for both kids and parents) where you sit at the table together. Go see a movie or try something new and unusual together, and lastly, say “I love you!” so your family knows how much they are valued and appreciated.
