Ways to Encourage Good Habits in Children

By Daria Winters

Being a parent is a wonderful thing to be and to do, but sometimes it can be challenging and exhausting raising your child and shaping its life. Parents have the biggest influence on their children and their behaviour. The way children perceive their parents will significantly reflect their behaviour. Parents are children’s role models and they absorb their parents’ attitude towards life and the way they treat people around them. That's why parents need to do their best and teach their kids how to live a happier and healthier life.

Depending on your values, you can encourage your kids to develop and learn good habits such as good manners, good social skills, or encouraging healthy eating habits and physical activities. It’s important to help and encourage your children to develop good habits since these habits will stay with them for the rest of their lives and will shape them as a person. One such habit is dropping by dentists like Maywood Dental Care based in LA regularly for check-ups to keep their teeth healthy.

1. Family Activities

Not everyone enjoys physical activities, and forceful tactics usually don’t have positive effects on your children and them wanting to be physically active. Simply put, the stricter the rules are - children will want less to exercise. A better approach would be to encourage your kids to take up some sport after school, something that they’re interested in and something that they’d like to try. Another approach would be to plan a family activity which may be jogging, taking your children to the park, taking your dog for a walk, riding a bike or playing catch. If your children are young, you can make these activities more fun and engaging by adding a fun game eg. counting how many cats your dog tries to catch during the walk. Physical activities aren’t just sports they can also be simple everyday activities like planting a gardenor building a snowman. Being active is good for your kids since it keeps them healthier by spending time outdoors instead of playing video games or watching the TV indoors. Encouraging your kids to be physically active while they’re young will become part of them and their habits once they get older.

2. Taking Care of Teeth

When they're young, children aren't capable of taking proper care of themselves and this includes taking care of personal hygiene, too. They need help with washing their hands, teeth and taking a bath. Parents help their children with personal hygiene by bathing them and washing their teeth till they’re old enough to do it themselves. Parents can also help their children to develop a proper hygiene regime that will stay with them when they get older, too. Brushing the teeth can seem challenging to kids, so it’s best to help them learn the basic steps on how to properly brush them and try to get in the habit to brush their teeth twice a day. Some kids may seem hesitant to brush their teeth, and to make this fun and not that scary – let your kid try washing your teeth first. Taking care of teeth is important because this way you’re also teaching your kid to take care of its health. That’s why parents should do their best to help their kids develop a habit to brush their teeth regularly. It’s also a good idea to make a habit to visit the dentist at least twice a year. If there’s any health issue the dentist will help your kid. These professionals will do an oral examination with some of the newest technology and materials that a quality dental laboratory provides them with.

3. Reward Your Children

It’s advisable to give an award to your kid for his or her good acts and deeds. Rewarding your children will motivate them to do those things more often and more dedicatedly. If there’s any kind of behaviour or act that you like seeing in your children, rewarding them for that will strengthen that behaviour. It's important to remember that you shouldn't always reward them with materialistic things such as a video game, or a piece of clothing. Rewards can also be praise or gratitude which can improve children's intrinsic motivation and help them develop feelings of competence.

Summary

Every parent wants what’s the best for their children. They want them to be happy, healthy, successful and respected. Parents have the biggest effect on children’s development and their behaviours. It's a well-known fact that parents' influence is the greatest in the early years of their children. That's why their years and this period of their children's lives is the most important. Parents have the responsibility to shape their children’s lives and it’s important to teach them how to treat not only themselves but also people around them kindly and with respect. So, if you’re a parent don’t forget to engage with your children and help them become a great person and a human being.