Health and wellbeing are at the forefront of many people’s minds as the benefits of healthy lifestyles, staying fit, and eating balanced diets are being highlighted more than ever.
As an adult, it’s up to you to ensure you’re doing what you can for your own health and wellbeing, but how can this be promoted in children?
Here, we share three simple ways to help children embrace a healthy lifestyle and boost their wellbeing.
1. Staying active
Whereas many young children love running around, promoting exercise in older children and those less motivated to move can be tricky. As with adults, the key to helping children to stay active is to encourage them to find a sport or activity they enjoy.
There are plenty of opportunities to introduce new sports and active games during the school day, including before school starts, morning break, lunchtime, P.E. lessons, and after school. The same is true for evenings and weekends when activities outside of school can be enjoyed. Variety is key. Some kids might find true happiness in children’s exercise games, such as obstacle courses, whereas others will excel in team sports, like football.
Empowering children to try different exercises and sports for themselves will help them find what they enjoy and encourage them to move and benefit from the many advantages that come from regular exercise.
2. Eating healthily
Promoting healthy eating to children can feel like an impossible task, especially when they start getting a taste for what they don’t like. While fruit can remain palatable thanks to its natural sugar, vegetables can often become the enemy.
Eating a balanced diet containing the colours of the rainbow is the best way to ensure we’re getting the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients we need. Luckily, there are a few ways that kids can be encouraged to eat fruit and veggies from red through yellow and green to purple.
For example, if a child likes the sweetness of fruit, a fruit and vegetable juice or smoothie is a great way to sneak a rainbow of foods into their diet. Smoothies can be better than juices as the contain more fibre, but kids can prefer the texture of juices as there are no ‘bits’.
3. Socialising
Something else that can have a huge impact on a child’s wellbeing is how much they socialise. Not all children need a huge group of friends, but ensuring they can get on with other children, have someone to play with at school, and don’t feel left out is key.
Circling back to staying active, group sports and activities are a great way for children to socialise, meet new people, and learn how to work as part of a team. From playground games to playing football, all activities offer the opportunity to boost wellbeing and encourage friendships.
At the Sport and Health Academy, we have a passion for promoting health and wellbeing in children and offer numerous sessions to help with this. Take a look at the services we provide and get in touch for more details.
