As a parent, the child’s upbringing starts as soon as they are born. You need to feed them, teach discipline, protect them from any danger, and teach them what is good and what is wrong for them. The choices which you make for your child’s health will affect them throughout their life. Therefore such decisions are should be made carefully. 

In this article, we are going to tell you some general tips on making healthy choices for children. These are –

1. Provide Natural Foods

Avoid processed foods and give them natural made foods that are filled with nutrition and minerals essential for their growth. Processed foods generally contain sugar, unhealthy fats, and calories. 

Give them –

• Fiber-rich foods like beans

• Fish & Poultry

• Fresh fruits and vegetables

• Leafy green vegetables

• Thin cuts of meat

• Whole grains

2. Limit TV, video game and computer time

It should be no more than 2 hours per day. These habits also lead to excessive snacking, which then causes obesity and cardiovascular disease. 

Don’t reward your children with video games, mobile, Tablets, candy, or snacks for doing a good job. Always try to find other ways of celebrating things. 

3. Get them off the Couch

Childhood obesity is increasing day by day which is not good for their future health and might cause overweight related problems. They might also be bullied by other children. Therefore, at this stage of their life, they need physical activity like sports and playing outdoor games rather than sitting at home. According to studies, a child needs around 60 minutes of daily physical activity. If your child doesn’t want to have friends to play with, then plan times for every family member to get moving together. Take long walks, gardening, jumping ropes, dancing, go swimming, ride bikes, or play hide-and-seek outside.

4. Eat the Alphabet

Your child needs plenty of all vitamins such as A, B, C, D, etc. from the foods which they eat every day. Try to make vitamin-rich foods and give them in their Tiffin box. Talk to your nutritionist about what kind of foods you should give to them. 

5. Make a Breast-Feeding Decision

Breastfeeding is an excellent way for a newborn baby to nourish them plus it also bonds you with your baby. While breastfeeding your baby, you need to take care of what you should eat and what you should not eat while breastfeeding as whatever you eat, the baby also eats the same. Therefore, consult your doctor and make a list of foods. 

6. Take care of their dental health

Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease which appears in childhood. It usually occurs due to improper cleaning of teeth and eating a lot of sugar products. Therefore, you need to control your child’s bad habits and try to give them things which are best for them or just try to give chocolates in moderate. Tooth decay can completely eliminate with the help of Fluoride.  So, try to give them a fluoride treatment. Children do not understand what is good for them or not, so you need to guide them and take care of their health. They also might have a bad mouth smell which might be a problem for their social life.

7. Avoid the “Clean Plate” Rule

Don’t force on your child and never tell them to finish their meal before they leave the table. Your child knows when he or she is full and wants to stop eating. Sometimes they don’t try to skip out on their meals; their bodies are just telling them they’ve had enough. Also, overeating might cause unwanted weight gain.

8. Take care of their Skin

Babies who are not six months old should avoid direct sunlight at any cost. These UV rays can damage their skin and increase the risk of developing skin cancer in later life. Babies who are six months old and above, parents should apply sunscreen at their skin (Reapply within every two hours) which is specially made for babies. Do not apply an adult sunscreen on their body, it might develop reactions.

Click to know – Foods to maintain good children’s healthy weight