|
|
(HealthNewsDigest.com) – Augusta, Ga. – Resolutions, resolutions. They’re easy to make but difficult to keep. But that’s the beauty of a new year. It allows you to wipe the slate clean and start again.
Here are 10 resolutions (no special order) medical experts recommend in order to maintain a healthier family:
1.
Provide a safe environment. Take steps to make sure your home, car, school, and other environments are child-friendly and safe. Use car seats and seat belts for appropriate ages and sizes. Keep hazardous materials and objects in locked areas and out of your children’s reach.
2.
Live smoke free. Smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke are harmful to you and your family. You can help protect your children by making your home and vehicles smoke-free. Quitting smoking is the single best way to protect your family. Make this the year to quit. Talk to your doctor about help with smoking cessation.
3.
Go to the doctor. Routine checkups, including dental and eye exams, help identify ways to stay healthy, provide the opportunity to receive preventive services, and help identify health problems early, when chances for treatment are most effective.
4.
Get your shots. Immunizations help prevent many diseases and save lives. Keep a record of your family’s vaccinations so you can stay up-to-date with CDC recommendations. If you have questions about what shots you need and when, ask your doctor.
5.
Feed them well. More than 9 million overweight children in the United States are at risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. Resolve to change this, beginning in your own family. Serve healthy meals and snacks. In general, good snacks are ones you wash, peel, slice, or eat raw, and poor snacks come from a bag, box, can, bottle, or wrapper. If it has a nutrition label, check it carefully. Watch portion sizes, too.
6.
Keep moving. Help children be active for at least one hour a day. Find fun, safe activities that you can do together to help keep the whole family healthy, like walking, dancing to your favorite tunes or cycling. Include activities that raise breathing and heart rates and strengthen muscles and bones. To put it another way, you and your kids should need a bath or shower after each day’s activities.
7.
Sleep well. How you feel and perform during the day is related to how much sleep you get the night before. Sufficient sleep is increasingly being recognized as an essential aspect of chronic disease prevention and health promotion. How much sleep is enough? Sleep needs vary from person to person and with age. Check with your physician for appropriate sleep needs for you and your children.
8.
“Big Brother” should be watching. Kids learn – both good and bad lessons – from family, friends, media, school and other influences. As a parent, it is your right and responsibility to monitor your child’s activities. Know who they spend time with, what they’re doing and if the activities are appropriate. Limit TV and computer game time. With social media on the rise, get familiar with facebook, twitter, my space and the like in order to carefully monitor or limit this kind of activity – IF you choose to allow your children to participate. Also, find out how their schools promote health and safety. Talk to their teacher, counselor or principal if you have concerns.
9.
Practice what you preach. One of the best things you can do for your children is to model a healthy lifestyle. Teach children to make wise and healthy choices every day, including fastening their seat belts, wearing helmets and protective sports equipment, using sun protection, proper hygiene, and treating others with kindness and respect, or at least civility. Your children will learn best when you model the good behavior you wish them to show.
10.
Nurture your family. Kids need the support and love of family and friends. Talk to your kids and show them you care about who they are and what they are doing. Respond to their physical and emotional needs. It’s important for kids to grow in a safe, loving, and secure environment.
These bits of advice are fairly obvious, and if you’re already doing all or most of them, then good for you. But it is so easy to forget about the basics, and cut corners when life gets hectic, which is why it is good to be reminded of the basics every now and then. If you steer your children toward healthy resolutions now, the more likely they are to carry these healthy habits with them into adulthood.
MCG Health, Inc. (d/b/a MCGHealth) is a not-for-profit corporation operating the MCGHealth Medical Center, MCGHealth Children’s Medical Center, MCGHealth Cancer Center, Georgia Radiation Therapy Center, and related outpatient facilities and services throughout the state. For more information, please visit mcghealth.org.
Dr. Stallworth is a pediatrician with MCGHealth Children’s Medical Center and MCG Pediatric Primary Care Associates. He is a 2005 winner of the MCGHealth Family Choice Award in Pediatrics for providing excellence in Patient Family Centered Care. Dr. Stallworth is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics and Reid Memorial Presbyterian Church. He is married to Leila Stallworth, also a pediatrician at MCGHealth Children’s Medical Center, and they have two daughters, Helen, 13, and Lucy, 9.
Subscribe to our FREE Ezine and receive current Health News, be eligible for discounted products/services and coupons related to your Health. We publish 24/7.
HealthNewsDigest.com
For advertising/promotion, email: [email protected] Or call toll free: 877- 634-9180