If you have been trying to get your kids to be a bit healthier in their day to day choices, you might have already found that it can often come with a lot of complaining! Even though kids know that they need to try and lead a healthy life, they might not always be happy about choosing the best options for them. After all, they’d much rather eat French fries and doughnuts than a salad and smoothie!
Sometimes, their complaining can easily turn into tears and tantrums, and you might start to feel like there is nothing that you can do to try and encourage your kids to join you in a health kick. Thankfully, though, you don’t just have to give up on your children and watch them as they choose not to exercise or always opt for the most sugary and fattiest dishes on menus. It actually is possible to help your kids get healthier without them complaining. Here are some things that you can do!
Make Exercise A Family Affair
If your children don’t seem too keen on joining sports clubs or being all that active, you might want to try and make exercise a family affair. You will find that your kids will be a lot more likely to take part if they feel like they are part of a team; your family can be that team! This will also help everyone stay motivated and want to always take part. For instance, no one will want to stop taking part with everyone as they might feel like they are letting the family team down. So, take some time together to think of a sport or exercise that you might all like to do together. Even if it’s just something as simple as going for a weekly walk around your local park, it will be enough to make a big difference on your kids’ health!
Take The Time To Try Different Sports
You can’t expect your kids to enjoy every single type of sport or physical activity that try. After all, we are all built differently with our own unique personality. As a result, we will be better at some sports and will find them a lot more enjoyable than what other people do. So, don’t expect your children to enjoy the first sport they try out. If they aren’t so enthusiastic about it and always complain about going to the club or practice sessions, you should consider trying them with a different one. You might even find that your children don’t even like the same sports! But, once they discover the best sport for them, they will certainly be a lot more likely to keep up with it.
Be A Good Example At The Dinner Table
Kids love to learn by example. Monkey see; monkey do! If they see you or their other parent doing something then they will surely want to copy either of you. So, you need to take this into consideration when you are all gathered around the dining-room table. If your kids notice that you are eating a lot of healthy foods, they will want to do the same. When you are eating make sure you are showing how much you are enjoying your food. That can be a great way to persuade children to try new and unusual ingredients and foods that they might not have wanted to taste before. It’s also really important that you cook the same meal for everyone at lunch and dinner. Don’t take requests from your kids as this will be way too much cooking for you.
Pack Healthy Lunchboxes
It’s perfectly fine to add a small treat to your children’s lunchboxes for school but, ideally, you need to try and make them as healthy as possible. Make sure there is a good balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fresh fruit and vegetables in them. When it comes to the drink, you should try and persuade your kids to take water to school. If they refuse to drink plain water, then you will be ok giving them one of these beverages that are packed full of extra vitamins and have a lot less sugar than regular soft drinks. It’s also a good idea to try and limit your children’s meat consumption. They should have at least one day a week when they take a vegetarian lunchbox to school with them. They can still get plenty of protein as long as you add rich sources of it, such as nuts, avocados, and tofu.
Hide The Veggies
Are your kids kicking up a big fuss whenever they see any vegetables on their plates at dinnertime? There is a way you can get them to eat their greens without causing any tears! You just need to be very cunning when you are cooking and hide them in certain dishes. If you finely chop or grate vegetables, you can mix them into sauces and other dishes, and children won’t even realize they are in there. Lasagne is very easy to hide grated carrot in, for example. It’s also a good idea to buy vegetable versions of certain foods. Did you know that you can now buy potato waffles that are also made with carrot? It’s true; and your kids won’t be able to taste the difference! Using sweet potato lasagne sheets and zucchini noodles are other great ways to disguise vegetables.
Be Patient
Even with all of thee great tricks and techniques, you might find that it still takes a long time to get your kids to quit all their complaining about healthy meals and exercise. You just need to take things slowly and be very patient! Trust me, though, you will get there in the end – all of this hard work will really pay off!
These are just a handful of things that you can do to help your kids be healthier without causing any complaining. It’s worth taking a look online to see what other steps you can take.
