HEALTHY HABITS
If you follow healthy habits, your child will be
motivated to adopt them too. By setting a good example in healthy
living, you can play a major role in inculcating such habits in
your child from an early age.
Keep the following 5 simple rules in mind for healthy
and happy living:
Adequate sleep
Regular exercise
Right type of food
Personal hygiene
Growing up in harmony with Nature
ADEQUATE SLEEP
In my practice, I see many children who present problems related to lack of sleep.
The typical story is that of a school going child who
has to catch her school bus at 7.30 a.m. She sleeps at 11.30
p.m. and is made to get up at 6.45 a.m. There is a mad rush after
that for everything — the toilet, the bath, and dressing.
The bus is to arrive any moment. The mother hands her a glass of
milk. She has a few sips and wants to leave the rest. The
mother insists that she finish it. She attempts to and then
vomits out everything. Such children are often brought to me for vomiting every morning. Interestingly, a detailed
history reveals that they do not vomit on holidays.
Other victims of inadequate sleep present problems of tiredness and lack of attention in
school. Young school
going children need 10 to 12 hours of sleep at night.
Teenagers need 9 to 10 hours of sleep. The bedtime must be fixed,
except perhaps during the holidays. Even parents need enough sleep. An occasional late night
is all right. Parents who follow the dictum of ‘Early
to bed, early to rise’ set the right tone for healthy living.
Children must be helped to go to bed early. Set an example for
this healthy habit. Once you get used to the freshness of the
early morning, you will never want to miss it.
REGULAR EXERCISE
Each cell of our body needs oxygen. Every muscle and
joint needs movement. Inactivity leads to complications
secondary to loss of calcium from bones and can give rise to
various symptoms like general weakness, boredom and
constipation. It has an adverse effect on the fluid balance inside our
body and on the endocrinal as well as the muscular, skeletal, respiratory and cardiovascular systems. It can, of
course, lead to problems like obesity with all its attendant risks.
Healthy parents exercise regularly and pass this habit
on to their children. Moderate physical activity in the early
years reduces the risk of heart disease later in life.
Exercise can take any form. Encourage the child to take part in sports like
kho-kho, kabbadi, badminton,
tennis, basketball, football, hockey, swimming, bicycle riding,
etc. If children show an inclination, let them get involved in wrestling, judo, karate or athletics. Invite
the child
to join you on a brisk walk, jogging, or just going up and down the
stairs of a high-rise building.
Healthy parents exercise regularly and pass this habit
on to their children
THE RIGHT FOOD
Offer your child fruits and raw vegetables from an early
age. Do not introduce her too early to fried foods and too
sweet or too salty preparations made from refined flour or maida.
The best way to develop healthy food habits in children
is to practise healthy habits yourself. Avoid the
preparation of foods that you know are not healthy.
The list of unhealthy foods includes all cold drinks (especially colas), fast foods which have
too much salt
and saturated fat, cream biscuits, sweets, coffee, cakes,
pastries, chewing gum and potato wafers. According
to an article in the Journal of Pediatrics, cola drinks appear to be strongly associated with calcium deficiency in children
because of their high phosphorus content. Association of cola drinks with bone fractures has also
been reported in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
As children grow, explain the difference between foods
that are healthy and those that are not good for our system.
If an older child insists, then let her have the so-called ‘unhealthy’
foods once in a while— say once a week. It is very
likely that her friends are bringing such food to school from home,
and being too rigid with an older child can backfire.
A child must be allowed to feed herself from an early
age, even if she makes a mess. I have seen children aged 7
years being spoon-fed by their parents; this is not healthy. A
healthy mind and an independent personality are even more
important than a strong physique. Your child is likely to remain a
spoonfed baby, dependent on others, if you treat her as a baby
for too long.
Do not give your child sweetened water. Give her plain water — without adding sugar — from
an early age. In
most Indian cities, it is necessary to boil drinking water.
After it comes to a boil, let it keep boiling for at least 5
minutes. Incidentally, boiling water is a better proposition than
using water filters. The best source of pure water is, of
course, coconut water and the water contained in fresh fruits.
PERSONAL HYGIENE
Set a good example to help your child learn the
principles of good hygiene from an early age. Since children often
take a doctor’s advice rather seriously, consider seeking the
help of your doctor in this connection. Care of the skin, nails,
teeth, eyes, hair and genital areas is essential. These are the vehicles for many infections.
Moderation Is The Key
Don’t get obsessed with cleanliness. There is no need
to wash all your child’s toys every day or to clean the floor
twice a day. Ideally, your baby should get some infections while she
is still being breastfed. The protective umbrella of breast milk ensures that she develops
antibodies against many
infections that she acquires as an infant or as a toddler.
GROWING UP IN HARMONY WITH NATURE
Help your children develop an interest in Nature from an early age. Let them play with the
mud, sand and water.
Watch the stars on a clear night, a rainbow when rain
alternates with sunshine, and the changing hues of the sky when the sun
is setting.
Yes, let your children learn to appreciate the beauty of Nature and its wonders. Take them to
the planetarium.
Help them appreciate the vastness of the universe. Make them understand the role of Nature in keeping us alive. It
will help them develop respect for the quiet job done by the earthworms, the snakes, the birds and trees and all that
they see around them.
Let your child know that, like sunlight, water is our
other friend. Get her used to touching cold water. Bathing
with very hot water is not advised even for newborn babies. If the
water is cold, remove the chill by warming it a little.
Gradually, let children get used to taking cold water baths.
Like sunlight, water is our other friend. Let your child
get used to touching cold water.
