#healthy #happy #families
“If you want your family to develop healthy lifestyle habits you must understand that you need to spend time together, support each other’s physical, emotional and social needs, and create memories” — Paul Ebeling
Families with healthy habits enjoy happy living without worrying and are free to pursue their dreams.
With that in mind, here are some habits of healthy families that people can adopt to make family living a joy, as follows:
1st, getting your family on the right diet and exercise routine is 1 of the most important things parents should do. A healthy family stays together.
Rise & Shine: Wake up at the same time and wake up together. Whether your kids are 5 or 16, getting into a habit of rising and shining synchronously will get your internal clocks ticking at a healthy rhythm. Getting your body on a set sleep schedule 7 days a wk, 365 days a yr, will give you more energy, mental stamina and lead to a longer life.
Lead by example and get your children on an 8-hr a night sleep pattern, rewarding them with a healthy, delicious family breakfast every morning.
Families rarely agree on what is for dinner so Mom and Dad plan the menus and cook them from scratch no processed foods, and healthy deserts. Make rules: no fast food, each meal has to have vegetables, protein and good water, no soda, and eat out once a wk at a sit down restaurant that serves Real food.
Make exercise a group activity. A great way to build this habit is by getting the whole family up and going for a run/walk together every morning. Exercising in the morning is proven to reduce stress and increase energy, and it will start you off with a great feeling of togetherness daily.
Plan a night once a wk when everyone gets to indulge. On the weekend watch a movie as a family and prepare a healthy family movie night snack, no microwave popcorn. Help with home work and limit your children’s hrs of TV and social media, monitor that very carefully.
Emotional well-being is an often ignored, yet very important, part of overall health. Getting your family in the routine of spending relaxing time together will bring you closer and make staying healthy rewarding.
Communication between all family members is the Key to a healthy family dynamic. Having session where everyone shares their worries, concerns, accomplishments and fun stories is an terrific habit for any family.
Books are written on this subject and lots of good advise to be had for the looking. But, whatever you decide to do, do it, because your children deserve solid healthy role models.
“As my parents taught me, doing things together is always the best assurance for a family unit staying together. Th old saying is very true: Blood is thicker than water and with each family member, sticking together is always a positive sign for family longevity.
“Unfortunately, today that is not always the rule of thumb. Too often families grow apart and most of that can be blamed on the family seniors for they have not, for whatever reason, spent the quality time to teach their children the basic values that come from togetherness, enjoying and covering each other’s back.
“Children too often are too much in a rush at meal time, not taking their time to discuss their feelings. Unfortunately, they only listen to their friends. Younger people often forget that their parents were once young too and went through the same trials and tribulations. They forget that we were once children and thus have tremendous insight into what is good and bad to ensure a child’s positive feelings.
“Children and young adults forget the value of blood relationships. They forget that in bad times it will mostly be a family member who will be by their side, not a quickly labelled friend. Unfortunately, young children are too quick to call an acquaintance a friend and forget that to be a true friend it must be earned in both good and bad times, with the latter be the real tester!
“So, family and friends, with open communications and doing things together, are the best way to build long-term relationships. Yes, togetherness, mutual enjoyment – like the old fashioned family picnics or your father and you playing sports together, and communications is the only way in building such a foundation-based relationship. Unfortunately for some, parents typically gives the best advice. It is a proven theory, well tested in time.
“However, applying such, is in itself an ART – trying to teach a younger person by beating them up with constant verbal and derogatory yelling and screaming. Learning the art of deploying diplomacy that is equal, not one-sided communications, plus using one’s own experiences to supplement the teaching necessary to insure a long-term, solid relationship,” says just a parent and LTN editorial contributor Bruce WD Barren.
Eat well, Be well, Live lively
