The True Value of Healthy Habits We’re Teaching Our Kids

The True Value of Healthy Habits We’re Teaching Our Kids

Raising your kids and teaching them to grow up into responsible and hardworking young people is surely not an easy task, but it has to be done no matter what. You will have to deal with numerous challenges in order to get this done, but trust us – it’ll be worth all the effort. If you are wondering how to do that successfully, stay with us. Here are six healthy habits you need to teach your children.

  1. Emotional Health Comes First

    Emotional health is pretty much underrated these days, when there are medicines and magic pills for every problem we might encounter. Still, it is crucial that your little ones understand its importance. Emotional stability can be seen as a useful trait nowadays, since we lead hectic lives and burn out quickly. Teach your kids to maintain deep relationships with people, especially with you, their siblings, friends, and the rest of the family. This will help them establish other kinds of relationships later in life.

  2. Everything is About Balance

    As an adult, you know that it’s extremely hard to find balance in life. Sometimes it even seems unattainable, since we are often stuck in the grip of our jobs and other grown-up responsibilities. However, you should do your best when teaching your children that having balance is essential. Show them how to manage their tasks from an early age, teach them that fun always comes after hard work, and that they can have it all. Work hard – play hard, right?

  3. Hard Work Always Pays off

    Teaching kids to have a good work ethic will help them manage their responsibilities properly, when it comes to both their school work and job. Even though you may want to make everything as easy as possible for them, that will do them more harm than good when they grow up. Instead, teach them that hard work always pays off and you will see them growing up into responsible, diligent young people who really mean business.

  4. Appreciate Nature

    In the era of immense technological innovations and the rapid development of the Internet, it can be very hard to get your kids outdoor and teach them to love nature. The majority of them would rather stay home playing video games or watching TV for hours, which can be bad for both their physical and mental health. Prove them that they can have fun outside of their comfort zone, and your kids will be grateful for teaching them how to connect with nature in the best way possible.

  5. Managing Moods Is the Key to Success

    A skill of mood management is another true gem your kids need to develop. In case you didn’t know, we have the ability to consciously change our moods, meaning that we are actually in charge of our own emotions. Experts advise that parents should teach their kids to identify, monitor and shift their own moods, so that they can correct negative thoughts all by themselves. That will surely lead to a positive attitude and self-image which are more than rewarding.

  6. Cultivate Fun and Optimism

    Having fun and laughing out loud is certainly the best cure for everything, so make sure that your kids are aware of that. The more we get together and laugh together, the happier we’ll be! Happiness and optimism are real game-changers that can improve not only your mood, but also your life in general. So teach your kids that valuable lesson and watch them grow up happy. It doesn’t get better than that!

Raising kids is definitely a difficult task that requires a lot of work, patience and effort. However, you’ll see that it will pay off. Seeing your kids happy and successful is what counts, so make sure that you have done everything you possibly could in order to achieve that. Help your kids overcome all the obstacles instead of overcoming them by yourself, and you will give them the most valuable thing – the knowledge about the world.


About the Author: Sophia Smith

Sophia is Australian based beauty, lifestyle and health blogger. She is very passionate about organic beauty products, healthy lifestyle and personal development. She is regular contributor at High Style Life.

Find her on Twitter, Facebook, and Google +

2 Comments

Meg Ferrante

Would love to see a post about number 5 alone. Mood management is truly important but to me, the hardest one on the list. My 10-year-old LOVES to run away when he is angry or wronged. I picture a lifetime of him running away from his problems and it scares me. I want to help him and I do try (pull him back in the room, get down on his level, take my voice to a whisper, etc) What else can we do to help him? For 88 percent of the day, he is as happy as a lark but when the worm turns, LOOK OUT!

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Thanks so much @maggiedentauthor♥️…
“Karen Young - Hey Sigmund has such a wonderful way with words especially around anxiety. This is her latest beautiful picture book that explains anxiety through the lens of the Polyvagal theory using the metaphor of a house. This shows how sometimes anxiety can be hard to notice. I think this book can help kids and teens better understand stress and anxiety. I loved it! This would be great for homes, schools and in libraries.
Congratulations Karen.💛”
Of course we love them, no matter what - but they need to feel us loving them, no matter what. Especially when they are acting in unlovable ways, or saying unlovable things. Especially then.

This is not ‘rewarding bad behaviour’. To think this assumes that they want to behave badly. They don’t. What they want is to feel calm and safe again, but in that moment they don’t have the skills to do that themselves, so they need us to help them. 

It’s leading with love. It’s showing up, even when it’s hard. The more connected they feel to us, the more capacity we will have to lead them - back to calm, into better choices, towards claiming their space in the world kindly, respectfully, and with strength. 

This is not about dropping the boundary, but about holding it lovingly, ‘I can see you’re doing it tough right now. I’m right here. No, I won’t let you [name the boundary]. I’m right here. You’re not in trouble. We’ll get through this together.’

If you’re not sure what they need, ask them (when they are calm), ‘When you get upset/ angry/ anxious, what could I do that would help you feel loved and cared for in that moment? And this doesn’t mean saying ‘yes’ to a ‘no’ situation. What can I do to make the no easier to handle? What do I do that makes it harder?’♥️
Believe them AND believe in them. 

‘Yes this is hard. I know how much you don’t want to do this. It feels big doesn’t it. And I know you can do big things, even when it feels like you can’t. How can I help?’

They won’t believe in themselves until we show them what they are capable of. For this, we’ll have to believe in their ‘can’ more than they believe in their ‘can’t’.♥️
Sometimes it feels as though how we feel directs what we do, but it also works the other way: What we do will direct how we feel. 

When we avoid, we feel more anxious, and a bigger need to avoid. But when we do brave - and it only needs to be a teeny brave step - we feel brave. The braver we do, the braver we feel, and the braver we do… This is how we build brave - with tiny, tiny uncertain steps. 

So, tell me how you feel. All feelings are okay to be there. Now tell me what you like to do if your brave felt a little bigger. What tiny step can we take towards that. Because that brave is always in you. Always. And when you take the first step, your brave will rise bigger to meet you.♥️
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#anxietyinkids #consciousparenting #parentingtips #gentleparent #parentinglife #mindfulparenting #childanxiety #heywarrior
If anxiety has had extra big teeth lately, I know how brutal this feels. I really do. Think of it as the invitation to strengthen your young ones against anxiety. It’s not the disappearance of brave, or the retreat of brave. It’s the invitation to build their brave.

This is because the strengthening against anxiety happens only with experience. When the experience is in front of you, it can feel like bloodshed. I know that. I really do. But this is when we fight for them and with them - to show them they can do this.

The need to support their avoidance can feel relentless. But as long as they are safe, we don’t need to hold them back. We’ll want to, and they’ll want us to, but we don’t need to. 

Handling the distress of anxiety IS the work. Anxiety isn’t the disruption to building brave, it’s the invitation to build brave. As their important adult who knows they are capable, strong, and brave, you are the one to help them do that.

The amygdala only learns from experience - for better or worse. So the more they avoid, the more the amygdala learns that the thing they are avoiding is ‘unsafe’, and it will continue to drive a big fight (anger, distress) or flight (avoidance) response. 

On the other hand, when they stay with the discomfort of anxiety - and they only need to stay with it for a little longer each time (tiny steps count as big steps with anxiety) - the amygdala learns that it’s okay to move forward. It’s safe enough.

This learning won’t happen quickly or easily though. In fact, it will probably get worse before it gets better. This is part of the process of strengthening them against anxiety, not a disruption to it. 

As long as they are safe, their anxiety and the discomfort of that anxiety won’t hurt them. 
What’s important making sure they don’t feel alone in their distress. We can do this with validation, which shows our emotional availability. 

They also need to feel us holding the boundary, by not supporting their avoidance. This sends the message that we trust their capacity to handle this.

‘I know this feels big, and I know you can do this. What would feel brave right now?’♥️

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