Undeniably, a behavior pattern, when repeated over and over again, develops into a habit. Gradually, habits form an individual’s character, which ultimately defines him or her. Though it is not impossible to develop new habits during your adolescence, habits, when practiced during childhood, leaves a huge impact.
As we grow up, we find it extremely hard to modify our ways to lead lives or develop good habit anew. It is easy to pick up healthy habits as a kid. But this may seem like a difficult task for parents initially.
Well, not really if you utilize technology to your advantage. When we talk about technology in specific, mobile apps have certainly simplified the way we lead our lives. Name a domain, and you have an app for that! So, parenting and teaching kids about good habits or making them responsible is no exception.
With thousands of parenting apps being featured in the App Store, it is truly tough to narrow down your search to one. Also, you have to make sure that the app has every feature that you want.
However, the app – S’moresUp – is one such app that serves as a complete package for kids.
Here is a quick overview of what this app does and why it is handy for parents.
- Features multiple healthy habits for kids
- Keep the kids motivated to learn new and good habits
- Manage kids’ chores efficiently
- Teach kids the value of money
- Make the kids more responsible
- Inculcate discipline and manners
- Manage family with calendars
- Fun ways to reward healthy habits
- Tackle every parenting challenge that comes your way
- Safe ways to teach kids about social media etiquette
Understand that as kids grow, they imitate the behavior and actions that they see from their parents. The habits and wisdom of parents inescapably pass on to their kids. But with a hectic lifestyle, we tend to forget those little details, which are essential.
Though this app has different options to help manage your kids, we will focus on teaching healthy habits to kids.
5 Excellent And Healthy Habits For Kids
One of the best features of this parenting app is that it has a set of eight predefined categories to help kids of every age with three things:
- New activities
- Healthy habits
- Responsibility
In the predefined category “healthy habits,” you can teach these five valuable habits to your kids and manage it simultaneously from this app.
- Drink Plenty Of Water
Childhood is the right age to teach your kids how to keep your body healthy. The first tip could be nothing better than to explain the importance of drinking water. It carries essential nutrients to all the body cells and eliminates wastes from major organs.
Since kids spend most of their time playing, drinking adequate amounts of water will not only help them stay hydrated but also control their overall body temperature.
Tell them how dehydration can have a worse effect on their bodily functions. If you aren’t aware, here is a quick fact. Hydration in kids is highly essential because their water requirements with respect to body weight are far higher when compared to adults.
Now, the chances are that your kid finds regular water too boring to drink. In that case, think of healthy alternatives. Squeeze a lime or orange to it. Besides teaching the importance of drinking enough water, make sure to explain the significance of hygiene too. Guide them to drink water from clean bottles and glasses to prevent infections.
- Eat Dinner With Family
Every parent desires quiet family meals where kids not only gobble up all the nutritious foods but also maintain proper discipline at the table. But this doesn’t usually happen. With kids around, mealtimes become more chaotic. Moreover, eating happens to be unpredictable and random.
In fact, even well-intentioned parents have impracticable expectations. Understand that young kids and toddlers aren’t mentally developed to sit quietly for a long period. Even if they are forced to eat, they just refuse and push the plates back.
Kids between the ages 2 and 6 are generally self-directed. Since they spend most of their time playing, it is unlikely to make them drop everything and have them seated at the dinner table.
All young kids need an advance notice before this transition takes place. So, make it a habit to give sweet warnings multiple times: at 20 minutes, 15 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, and 2 minutes.
When a kid is engrossed in his or her playtime, or deeply focused with a TV show or art project, they will resist coming to the table just to eat. Obviously, they are involved in an activity that is more fun and they certainly not want to stop.
The resistance tends to be stronger if the served meal is not tempting to them. At such times, tell them that even if they don’t like the meal or not hungry, they have to sit at the table for a good family time.
This actually removes the pressure of eating right away. The best part of it is that as soon as they are seated, they tend to eat something, even if it is little.
- Wash Hands And Keep Them Clean
This is one of the healthy habits for kids to teach. Even if they don’t listen, make them aware of diseases and germs that they could pick up from unclean hands.
Washing hands properly with soap before and after the meals is indeed one of the common etiquettes that can be taught to kids from a young age so that they follow it for their rest of the lives and even pass on to the upcoming generations.
Tell them how keeping their hands clean and maintaining hygiene can prevent diseases like cold, cough, and other bacterial infections. Teach them the importance of washing their hands properly before and after every meal with soap.
- Sleep On Time
Kids need a minimum sleep time of 8 – 10 hours every night. Teach them the importance of sleeping and waking up on time. Encourage them to follow this routine every day. Tell them that they must get into the bed ay 9.30 PM to have the next day start early by 7:00 AM.
By practicing this on a daily basis, not only will they be accustomed but also other factors will fall in one place automatically.
- Read For 30 Minutes Every Day
An ideal way to build the reading habit in kids is by including it in their bedtime and playtime routine. Pick books that make the reading session a treat rather than boredom.
Maintain this habit, as this will help develop self-esteem, confidence, reading skills, imagination power, creativity, and vocabulary in kids. The added benefit – it improves communication and bond with parents.
Unveil some more amazing habits for kids by downloading the S’moresUp app.
