Supporting the Health of Your Children
When you become a parent, one of the most important aspects of raising a child is ensuring a long and prosperous life. You want to witness this little bundle of joy as they grow up, exploring the world, laughing, crying, and being full of curiosity. Your parenting methods will be a significant determining factor in how they navigate the world.
The health of your child will always be a point of concern. From their very first breath, your mind will fill up with worries about how things can go wrong. If the goal is to support these young ones to have a joy-filled life, then knowing how to support their health is very important.
There are plenty of theories out there that claim to know the best methods for raising a child. “Do this and your three-year-old will grow up to own a business!” Maybe you have seen a headline like that. To make things simple, let’s break it down into some of the most basic ways to support the health of your children.
Table of Contents
Encourage Play
Playing either by themselves or with others is a crucial skill to learn as a child. It improves social development, expands the mind, and helps to form personal interests. After a child is born, their patterns will evolve. At first, there is feeding time and then naptime. Eventually, there will be more time when they are awake. This is what can evolve into playtime.
By encouraging children to engage with toys early on, and then eventually with playmates and friends, you are setting their brains up for better development. Social skills will grow and they will learn more about their environment the more they engage in playful activities. It is also valuable for children to learn how to entertain themselves since there will be times when no one is around to do it for them.
Infographic provided by Lamar Dental, an cavity treatment in Hattiesburg MS
Protect Their Skin
Children are particularly vulnerable to their environment, with the skin being more likely to be damaged due to its position as the outer layer of the body. This is why many parents are concerned with unexplained rashes or skin damage that occurs.
There are many ways to promote skin health for your children. Protecting skin from sun damage can be done by staying in the shade, wearing hats or shirts, and applying sunscreen often on exposed skin. There can also be harmful elements in your home, such as lead paint or poor air quality. By ensuring that skin-damaging features in your home are removed or solved, your children will have clearer and stronger skin that serves its proper function successfully.
Implement a Balanced Diet
In early infancy, breastmilk or formula provides a balance of nutrients that the child needs. As they grow, their dietary needs change, and more foods need to be added to provide sufficient nutrition.
As a parent, you have the most control over the types of food that the child consumes. Your goal should be to provide them with a steady stream of essential food groups to encourage healthy growth. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, meats, and dairy are all key factors of a balanced diet.
A great way to support a balanced diet is with supplements that promote cellular health. They can provide balanced levels of important nutrients and support the longevity of cells.
Limit Screen Time
For exhausted parents, it can be tempting to sit an energized child down in front of the TV or with an iPad to give themselves a break. But screens are not meant to be a babysitter. Although they can be used as an incentive for good behavior or to help educate children, spending too much time looking at a screen is bad for them.
The strain that consistent exposure to blue light puts on their eyes can be harmful. Additionally, this practice teaches them unhealthy habits of relying on devices for all their entertainment. You may have to get creative to find alternative options for keeping them busy, but remember that it will benefit their eye health and their development to limit screen time during the day.
Healthy Lifestyles Make Happy Children
Although there is a limit to how strict you should be with certain methods, promoting a healthy lifestyle for your children will usually result in a happier outlook on life for them. Whether that means encouraging playtime, protecting their skin, balancing their diet, or limiting their screen time, you and their doctor can come up with a plan to support their health.
Ultimately, you will come to know what is best for your child and what level of health they can achieve. But the younger they are, the more they will rely on you for understanding how to be healthy. Conduct some research into the topic of children’s health on your own to be equipped for raising them to prosper.
