You’re feeling overwhelmed and wondering for the umpteenth time how your mom friend does it.
It physically tires you just looking at her.
And, emotionally whips you, thinking she has managed to get it right … again …
Parenting is not easy, nor is knowing how to raise a healthy child.
And the biggest pressure we all experience as moms is probably the emotional need to try and be perfect.
Your ultimate mom goal to be a superhero parent. Trying to be like other ‘perfect’ moms, like your mom friend, who is always available, permanently organized and at all times happy and healthy.
But you know what?
If there is one important parenting message you need to know and believe, it’s probably this: You don’t need to be a superhero parent.
No, you don’t! But that doesn’t mean you should ignore your parenting aspirations.
A far more realistic and fulfilling goal is to be an awesome parent. An awesome mom doing your best! That’s it.
And, part of being an awesome parent is knowing how to make mom life easier.
Do you want to know the secret that parents, like your mom friend, live by?
It’s super simple: They use actionable parenting hacks that make everyday family living less stressful and more fun. Easy!
Today you will discover one of these brilliant hacks to help you raise healthy kids.
Three easy steps you can implement immediately, even when you are tired, even when you are busy. All you need to do is take action, be creative and enjoy the fun.
And the difference this will make to your and your kids’ lives will be worth every second spent.
So, jump in and be the awesome mom your kids deserve.
3 Action Steps on How to Raise a Healthy Child
Child psychology tells us to teach our kids healthy eating habits, to be active and emotionally intelligent to maximize social and emotional development. This hack is based on these three important life skills.
For more tips and actionable hacks to raise a healthy family, be sure to join the free 7-day email course on Healthier Family Living.
Let’s dive right in and start with your first three steps:
- make feeding fun
- avoid the moss
- share big emotions
Time to have a look at each of these three steps and in the end share a challenge to help you easily implement them. Remember to choose your kids’ involvement based on their age and skills, and most importantly, have fun with it.
1. Make Feeding Fun
Meal times are often frustrating and a test of our best-intended patience. But there are small things we can do to make it easier and more fun for everyone.
Consider one or all of these:
- cook together
- allow your kids to make the salad
- wash or cut the vegetables
- or even help with the cooking
- always enjoy dinner at a table, give each child a turn to
- set the table
- decorate the table
- dish up for everyone
- clear the table
- be creative
- have kids plate the food, suggest color grouping, shape forming or rainbow mixing
Smart Mom Tip – When eating fruit and veg is a challenge, optimize the health benefits from what they eat by choosing superfoods instead of just healthy foods. Science teaches us that adding superfoods and gut foods will boost child development and prevent disease. So, opt for the best.
2. Avoid the Moss
When my kids were younger and watching television for too long, I would tell them to jump up and move around before the moss starts to grow on them.
And to this day, my son would jump off the couch after sitting still for a while and says he thinks he’s starting to go green! And that he better gets moving before the moss is there to stay.
And whenever we do an outing to the forest, they will search for a tree or rock, covered in moss and help it move! This is a great example of adding fun to mastering a life skill like being more active.
While some kids love being active and it’s easy to send them outside to play, others prefer spending an afternoon reading a book. Although different, neither is right nor wrong. You simply need to determine their preference and encourage them accordingly.
Offer to read a book with your little bookworm after playing hopscotch outside.
The secret is in you sharing the active time with them and then rewarding them with their favorite activity afterward.
3. Share Big Emotions
From a very young age, it is important to help your kids master emotional intelligence.
Start by teaching them that it is okay to have feelings, whether it is being happy, sad or even angry. And, then help them learn how to share and handle their big emotions.
Good ways to teach your kids how to be smart with their emotions
- reading books together on handling emotions
- playing games to help them grow confidence in sharing their feelings
- having a family calming strategy
Now that you know the first three steps on how to raise a healthy child, are you up for a challenge?
Your Three-Day Healthy Child Challenge
I challenge you to take action over the next three days.
Start by choosing one of the three steps above, and then directly relating it to something your own child loves. A food, an activity or an emotion.
And now comes the magic of being an awesome mom:
Not me, or your marvelous mom friend, nor any child expert can do this part, it must be you! Why? Because only you know your child the way you do.
It’s your privilege as a mom to completely understand your kids’ likes and dislikes, fears, and triumphs. Use this knowledge wisely …
After choosing that one thing they love, create a way to implement all three the action steps using it.
Challenge Examples to Get you Started
Ask yourself:
What is My Kids’ Favorite Superfood?
Let’s say they love eating strawberries. Then amaze them with a strawberry surprise, every day for three days, based on each of the three steps above.
- make feeding fun – make a strawberry smoothie together
- avoid the moss – go strawberry picking
- share big emotions –tell or read them a story about strawberries
Do They Love Running Around and Being Active?
- make feeding fun and avoid the moss – organize a treasure hunt hiding a fresh fruit or veg. You will be amazed how willing they are to try new foods after finding them!
- share big emotions –bplay an emotion sharing board game based on sports
Do They Enjoy Being Funny and Entertaining?
- make feeding fun – create funny faces with new food groups and then taste it
- avoid the moss – let them put up a show for the family
- share big emotions – create a little family book with all your favorite jokes
You get the idea!
Simply use the three steps and relate them to your child’s likes.
And remember to do this for each of your kids. When your kids are a bit older, let them choose the three activities according to their favorite things to get them interested.
This is an easy hack to raising healthy kids. Get them involved in living healthy by using the things they love.
You can, of course, use the same challenge and choose something they dislike or fear and relate it to the three steps to help them deal with it.
What You Will Achieve by Doing the Healthy Child Challenge
- your kids will be on their way to living healthier
- your parent-child bond will grow stronger
- family communication skills will improve
- important life skills will be mastered including emotional intelligence
And Your Ultimate Benefit
You will start to enjoy being the fabulous and fun mom you’ve always wanted to be!
You will no longer have to envy your mom friend for being organized and calm. Remember the resentment you felt when watching her be on time, waving her healthy children good-bye? It will be transformed into pride whilst blowing kisses to your own kids, as you drop them five minutes early, armed with lunchboxes filled with superfoods and proudly noting their healthy glow and dry noses …
One of the ingenious secrets awesome parents share! And, now you know it too.
The Only Question Remaining
Will you take up the challenge and actually use this knowledge on how to raise a healthy child?
Or, will you rather continue envying the other moms who did act …
I believe you can do it! You? Why don’t you leave a comment to confirm your dedication to being a better mom and starting this challenge today?
If you enjoyed this healthy child hack, here are two perfect ways to take your healthy family living to the next level
- Join the free Healthier Family Challenge
- Get the Healthy Living Kickstart you need
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