Being a parent is never easy. Sometimes it might feel like an impossible task. One of the hardest parts of being a parent is encouraging good habits in your children. If you work hard and help your children develop healthy habits early in life, they will benefit from them for the rest of their lives. Habits are not acquired overnight, and it will take time and patience. This article will outline how you can encourage good habits in your children, and what a few of those good habits are:
Good Manners
Your child’s manners are a reflection of your own. The best way for you to teach your children manners is to have them yourself! When you are out with your children, make a display of politeness. They will pick up on it over time. Encourage your children to say thank you, please, excuse me, and you’re welcome. It’s no secret that people with good manners are more charismatic and more likeable than people without. Teaching your child how to have manners can benefit them socially and in the workplace.
Physical Activity
So much of our lives are spent in front of computers or our phones nowadays. Physical activity is more important now than ever before. With your child, you have a blank canvass. Do not allow them to waste away their days mindlessly playing video games and sat in front of the television. Do not encourage dependence on technology. Instead, encourage them to enjoy the outdoors. Playing in the garden, taking the dog for a walk, and playing catch are all good ways to get your children active.
You might also want to introduce your child to organised sport. Sports like tennis, swimming, and football are all great ways for them to develop a lifelong love of physical activities. It will make them healthy, strong, and happy. Strong links have been drawn between mental wellbeing and frequent physical activity.
Sleep
Getting poor sleep is a habit your children don’t need to get into! From a young age, you can ensure your children sleep perfectly for their entire lives quite simply. Put them to bed at a specific time and take their devices away from them when it is time for bed. Explain to them the importance of good sleep from an early age. You should also explain to them why they should never oversleep, and the impact that oversleeping can have on your life. According to the sleep specialists from https://puffy.com/blogs/wellness/sleep-calculator-want-to-know-the-best-time-to-sleep-wake-up, you can use a sleep calculator to determine how much sleep is necessary. A strictly regimented sleeping routine will benefit your child tremendously.
Bonding
Bonding time with your child is crucially important to their development. The same goes for the rest of your family. Spend a lot of time together, go for walks, hikes, and bike rides. By spending time together, your child will learn how to behave in groups and will learn about the importance of family.
Rules
To encourage your child to behave well, you need to be strict. Set rules for your children and punish them if they break them. Do not be a parent that allows rules to go broken without punishment. At the same time, do not punish your children needlessly. Some parents have a habit of overreacting and punishing their children without cause – this can breed contempt and fuel bad behaviour.
Healthy Eating
If your child’s diet consists of microwaved meals and sweets, then they are more likely to eat unhealthily as an adult. Show your child how important a healthy diet is, by eating one yourself. Your child’s dietary habits are dictated by you. They cannot, as a child, go out and eat junk food unless you let them. Make your child aware of the importance of diet and encourage healthy eating in them from a young age.
Rewards
One of the best ways to encourage your child to behave well is to reward them when they do! If your child goes above and beyond to demonstrate manners, good behaviour, or acts kindly, then reward them. Rewarding your child will teach them that good behaviour does pay off, and they will grow to like it. A reward doesn’t have to be sweets, a toy, or a day out, and can just be a hug, a kiss, or a kind word.
Reading
As has already been said, in the modern world we have an unhealthy reliance on technology. Reading books seems like a thing of the past. Encouraging your child to read instead of using their phone is a fantastic way to teach them good habits. A love of reading will carry into adulthood and will be something that they impart on their own children. Teach them to love reading by taking them to libraries, buying them books, and reading to them before bed.
Involvement
An absent parent can destroy a child’s life. Your child will look up to you, adore you, and respect you. If you are not involved in their life, then you can breed attachment issues and can cause them to think that absence is okay. Be as involved as you can and always be there, through thick and thin.
Meal Times
Regimented mealtimes can encourage not only a healthy diet but a healthy attitude toward meals. A lot of people gorge themselves on food throughout the night. By teaching your child routine in their meals, you will hopefully prevent them from thinking that it is okay to snack and eat at ridiculous hours of the night!
Role Model
Most important of all, whatever you do, be a good role model. Whether you are sleeping, eating, or exercising, show your child how to do things properly and explain to them what the benefits of doing things properly are. Your child will learn, most of all, from watching you. Your habits will become theirs. You should also try to have realistic expectations for your child. While you might want them to become an astronaut, do not expect it of them.
Encouraging good habits in your children is one of the most important things that you can do. You are single-handedly moulding and shaping a human being. That’s a big responsibility, so treat it as such.
