5 Healthy Habits to Help Your Child Thrive

Why Forming Healthy Habits Matters 

Healthy habits are the foundation of feeling our best. Whether you eat nutritious foods, sleep enough, move your body, or all three, these habits help us stay physically and mentally well. For children, healthy habits are particularly valuable. This is because children who are taught healthy habits while they’re young are more likely to maintain them as adults, which lowers the risk of developing chronic diseases. On the flip side, one study demonstrated that unhealthy habits taught to toddlers stayed with them into childhood, which increased the risk of them developing health issues as they grew up. 

What Do Unhealthy Habits Look Like?

One study differentiated their “unhealthy habit” group of children with the following:

• Less physical activity

• Higher screen time

• Poorer diets (less fruits and vegetables, more unhealthy snacks and sugary drinks)

There were other similarities among children in this group, with the researchers finding that they typically had parents with lower education and were often from lower-income households. Their mothers were more likely to have had an unhealthy diet, low physical activity, and poorer sleep during their pregnancy.

By eight years old, the group of children with “unhealthy habits” had tripled their risk of pre-hypertension and high diastolic blood pressure, and their levels of sugar and fats in their blood were much higher than the other group of children with healthier habits. Surprisingly, the children had a similar body mass index (BMI) between groups!

It’s never too late to start helping your child develop healthy habits that they can carry with them as they grow up. Here are five of the most important healthy habits you can encourage!

Five Healthy Habits to Help Your Child Thrive

1. Routines

If healthy habits are the foundation for feeling your best, then routines are the foundation of healthy habits. Helping your child know what to expect and when during the day helps them build a sense of security and safety. Routines have a multitude of benefits, including better emotional and behavioral regulation, empathy, academics, and mental health, as well as lower BMI and obesity risk.

Here’s how to implement routines at every age!

• Infancy (0 – 1 years): Babies are usually ready for a routine around two to four months of age, but if you’re not sure, this is a great question to ask your child’s pediatrician during a wellness visit! When they’re this little, they still don’t have a regular sleep cycle, and they won’t until they’re six months old. This means that you have to learn their cues, which can help you figure out what times they like to take their morning and afternoon naps. Once you know this, you can build your day around those naps to make sure your child gets the rest they need. Additionally, you can do some consistent calming activities before bedtime, like a warm bath, a song, and snuggles to help them feel comforted and know it’s time to sleep.

• Toddlerhood (2 – 3 years): Toddlers can be hard to entertain throughout the day, because they need a variety of naps, snacks, and play to keep them feeling their best. Here’s an example schedule of a daily at-home routine that you can adapt to fit your needs! Whatever you do, keep it consistent. This is also a great age to solidify bedtime and bathtime routines!

• Early Childhood (4 – 6 years): Bedtime and bathtime routines remain important at this age, and now you can start helping your child learn the steps of getting ready for preschool and kindergarten. This will help them as they transition to elementary school in a few years. After-school routines are just as important, to help your child decompress after a long day away. Your child may be learning to read or already an avid reader, so you can turn story time before bed into an opportunity to have them help with a page or two in an easy-to-read book, like the Elephant and Piggie series.

• Middle Childhood (7 – 11 years): The work you’ve done to help your child adjust to their routine is going to be a major support as they transition to elementary school. Much of this is the same as those early childhood routines, but less napping and more “quiet time” or “taking space” – whatever we want to call it – it gives them time to decompress and take time to themselves! There are still opportunities for routines before and after-school, at bathtime and bedtime, and for homework.

• Adolescence (12 – 18 years): Even though your child is now a pre-teen, teen, or young adult, the routines at home stay much the same; they just adapt their timing to your child’s needs. They may start going to bed later, take more time alone, and take longer to complete their ever-increasing amounts of homework. There’s less you can do now to enforce the routines you’ve been implementing for so long, but this is a chance for your older child to take on the responsibility of their routine, with support as they need it!

2. Exercise

Less than 24% of children between ages 6 to 17 are getting the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity. An increase in screen time is associated with reduced physical activity. 54.4% of children who spend 4+ hours on screens are getting enough exercise, versus 70.4% of children who spend 2 or less.

Here are some examples of ways you can build movement into your child’s weekly routine; don’t hesitate to reach out to your child’s pediatrician for more ideas!

• Stay active as a family with regular walks, bike rides, or outdoor games like frisbee, cornhole, or sports. You can build this into your weekly routine with after-dinner walks, once-a-week bike rides, etc.

• Encourage your child to explore active sports and hobbies until they find one they really like. Whether it’s martial arts, soccer, dance, gymnastics, or something else altogether, there’s so much to try. Your local YMCA likely hosts summer camps for kids around one of these sports or has classes your child could join.

• Use physical activities as a reward! For example, if your child has a big win, go play miniature golf, visit a water park, go for a hike, or try indoor ice-skating. Laser tag, paintball, roller skating, trail riding – there’s so much to try!

• Set a good example for your child. If they see you take up yoga, jogging, or walking, they may want to try it with you!

3. Nutrition

Most children do not eat the daily recommended number of fruits and vegetables, and an average of 40% of their daily calories are from added sugars and solid fats, which increases future health risks. Here are some ideas to help your child meet their nutritional needs!

• Offer them a variety of rotating vegetables and fruits! Research shows that it can take 10+ tries before your child tries a new food on their plate. If your child is hesitant to try a new fruit or vegetable, include a small portion of it on their plate at mealtimes and don’t force them to eat it or make a big deal out of it. Let them make that choice when they’re ready.

• Include lean proteins like chicken, beans, and eggs, healthy fats like avocado and butter, and dairy sources like cheese and milk.

• Just like with exercise, your example matters. If your child observes you making healthy choices, they’re more likely to do the same.

• Stay away from sodas and fruit juices, since they contain a lot of sugar and leave your child still hungry afterwards. Water or milk are much better alternatives!

• Don’t use food as a reward or punishment, cut out entire food groups, label foods as “good” or “bad”, shame your child for their food choices, comment on their weight or body, or make them “clean their plate.” These can increase the risk of your child developing an eating disorder, which can be extremely harmful for their physical and mental health. Explore other eating disorder prevention tips here.

• Don’t stop your child from enjoying all sweets or other high-sugar, high-sodium foods. It’s all about balance!

4. Sleep

We spoke a little bit about bedtime routines in the first part of this article, but there’s a lot that goes into “sleep hygiene”. Setting your child up for a successful night’s rest is just as important as having a consistent bedtime routine. Here are some essentials for a restful night!

• Closing curtains to make their bedroom a dark space, perhaps with a nightlight for a low light level, and re-opening the curtains to let the light in when it’s morning.

• Setting a curfew for screens – i.e., a specific time when the television and other devices need to be powered down and kept out of the bedroom.

• Using a noise machine, fan, or both to help create a space conducive for sleep.

• Spending at least thirty minutes before bed winding down and playing quietly.

Here are the recommended amounts of sleep by age, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics:

• Infants 4-12 months: 12-16 hours (including naps)

• Toddlers aged 1-2 years: 11-14 hours (including naps)

• Preschoolers aged 3-5 years: 10-13 hours (including naps)

• Children aged 6-12 years: 9-12 hours

• Teens aged 13-18 years: 8-10 hours

5. Screen Time

You may be looking to hear that there’s a specific amount of screen time that is “bad” for your child, but it’s not that simple! While children under 2 should typically avoid screens (except for video chatting with relatives), it becomes a question of quality versus quantity for children past this age.

Less screen time is always ideal, but what media your child engages with is the most important consideration. You can try and use the “three C’s” of media in your household – content, co-viewing, and communication – to determine what’s right for your children. You can also create a family media plan that outlines boundaries around media and builds a foundation for transparency and honesty as your child gets older.