The Blog

New Year’s Resolutions for the Family

According to this ABC News article, nearly 41 percent of Americans are making resolutions this year, and 35 percent will break them by the end of the month.

A lot of these resolutions revolve around working out, eating healthy or losing weight. But what if you’re a parent of a child who needs to do these things as well? How can you help or encourage them to do what’s best for their body without nagging their heads off?

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This USA Today article “Ways to empower kids to take charge of their health” has some great suggestions for embedding health as a greater priority in the minds of our children.

First, they propose we let the kids get involved in the kitchen. Show them how to prepare healthy snacks after school and soon they may very well pick up interest in making healthy dinners with you! Our Superstar Remmi Smith is one kid who definitely knows her stuff when it comes to making healthy meals. Today, Sodexo Education-Schools recognized Remmi as the first ever National Student Ambassador to Health and Nutrition! You can check out her Cook Time with Remmi website for a ton of recipes to try from around the world.

remmi

Second, the article suggests pedometers as a way to get kids involved in setting goals for themselves and tracking their activity level. If you get a pedometer for yourself too, you can compare progress. Our office had a pedometer steps competition last year and it definitely upped the number of us walking at lunch time instead of sitting down!

Finally, USA Today recommends that you get older peers involved in setting a good example, but don’t hover over the younger ones at the playground forcing them to play. Studies show that kids whose parents sat further away from them at the park played and ran more.

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We know kids can stay active naturally, but these tips are certainly helpful in making your child’s health fun and interesting for them too!

Now get out and play!

Photos: Hanging, Bikes, Remmi.