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Children today are becoming more and more complex. Education has changed, and anything they want to know can be learned from the internet. As great as improved information is, many kids have adopted a sedentary lifestyle requiring entertainment and education. Unfortunately, adults do the same thing. But you can be the example and teach your children about healthy foods, how to look after themselves and the importance of regular and meaningful activity. 

Educating your children in this way from an early age will offset common health issues associated with getting older. For example, regular exercise will increase bone and muscle mass, therefore staving off issues such as osteoporosis. Additionally, cutting out junk food and eating a healthy and balanced diet will encourage cardiovascular health, reading the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Teaching Children Healthy Eating Habits

It’s never too early to begin teaching your kids about healthy eating. There’s so much to choose from with the internet, celebrity chef cookbooks, and every other TV show being about food or health. As with most things in life, studies have shown that what a child learns from their parents at an early age, sticks with them forever. 

Therefore you must teach your children about healthy eating when they’re young, so they don’t need weight loss treatments later. As a parent, you can hide your kids’ eating habits from when they are babies right up until they are grown-ups. And from there they will be able to guide their children about the importance of healthy eating habits. And so on.

Learning to Cook

According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), more than 65,000 children per year are injured in the kitchen in the UK alone. Yet, one of the simplest yet most effective things is teaching your children to cook for themselves. This extends beyond the act of preparing a meal. You can teach a child about kitchen safety, proper knife techniques, and food hygiene standards from an early age. 

Of course, toddlers and young children shouldn’t be allowed to use knives, but you could still show them the proper way to move with or store a knife and why they shouldn’t touch them. As children watch you in the kitchen, they will learn a lot. Also, kids just love helping in the kitchen. Learning to cook well-prepared, fresh food is the best way of ensuring your children get the vitamins and minerals they need and prepare them for later life.

Say No to Junk

Teaching your children how to make delicious fresh food is vital for their health. Unfortunately, junk food is flooding children with harmful chemicals and substances such as processed sugars that cause many problems. Such problems include excess weight, reduced cerebral development and dental issues, to name a few. If junk foods such as ice cream, pizzas and burgers are to be given to children, it should be done as a special treat and made fresh if possible.

Another issue is that of what children drink. There are numerous brands of fruit drinks aimed at children. Yet, just because they contain fruit doesn’t mean they are healthy. In fact, some of the leading brands, Robinsons Fruit Shoots, contain 4 tablespoons of sugar. Around 80% of their recommended daily intake. Other drinks such as Coke also contain high amounts of caffeine, and therefore, should not be given to children under the age of 16.

The Importance of Balance

Learning to cook and eating healthy foods is all well and good. Yet, it can be a little redundant if you don’t eat a balanced diet. It is recommended that you intake an equal balance of carbohydrates, protein, fibre and dairy. Unsaturated fats are also advised in addition to plenty of water, around 6 to 8 glasses per day.

Foods containing high amounts of fat, salt and sugar are recommended for regular intake. Still, they won’t cause any harm on occasion. But finding a balanced diet can be difficult. One of the best tips is to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. These should also be of a wide colour range. Different colours in foods are indicative of their content. For example, carrots are orange because they contain high amounts of beta-carotene, which is orange in colour.

Taking Care of the Body and Mind

Eating a balanced and healthy diet is excellent for your children’s overall health. And as great as healthy food is for your kids, they need activity in their lives as well. Physical activity will strengthen muscles, promote healthy organs and provide cardiovascular exercise for a healthy heart. These are all excellent reasons for training and should be a priority.

However, regular exercise is also proven to be effective for mental health as well. The act of movement, whether it’s running, jumping or playing on swings, promotes the release of serotonin and reduces cortisol levels. Serotonin is the chemical released by your endocrine system and brain that makes you feel good. You feel this when eating your favourite food, achieving something or making love. High serotonin levels are known to reduce anxiety and depression. 

Fun Activities

But every parent knows how hard it can be to get the kids to exercise. Given a choice between watching Nickelodeon and jogging, most children are just going to get comfy on the couch. But letting your kids become couch slouch can severely impact their bone density and muscle mass, which will cause health problems later in life.

The trick is to disguise exercise as fun activities. For example, you could design a hunt where the children need to find things hidden around the house. And they have to run the whole way. You would also get them to walk the dog or join a dance class. Whatever it takes to get them into the routine of getting at least 1 hour of exercise per day. 

Regular Exercise

You might be tempted to do fun and active things with your children once in a while. While this is better than nothing, it doesn’t significantly impact their health over the long term. Regular exercise is required for ensuring your children stay active and healthy. It is advised that activity from an early age is encouraged to help your kids grow well.

Bone density and muscle mass develop better with active children. This is because proteins in the body break down and are rebuilt stronger. Outside activity is also encouraged as vitamin D helps with calcium production. Additionally, regular exercise in children helps with motor, cognitive and social skills. These are essential for development into teens and adults. 

Healthy Routines

But of course, there is much more to health than exercise, eating well, and activity. Almost everything we do affects our health in some way or another. For example, one of the primary concerns among paediatrics is the state of children’s teeth these days. Public Health England reports that around a quarter of 5 year-olds suffer tooth decay. The reasons vary but include fizzy drinks and sweets. Yet this is preventable by encouraging a good brushing routine of twice daily.

Another healthy routine is getting enough sleep. Children need more sleep than adults. Ages 3 to 10 require 10 to 12 hours of sleep per night instead of teen and adult 8 hours. Unfortunately, with today’s distractions such as streaming TV, smartphones and video games, kids just want to be entertained all day and night. Therefore, it would be helpful if you ensure they sleep at a scheduled bedtime. You can use internet and device parental controls to help with this.

Starting school can be daunting, regardless of whether you’re just starting primary school or you’re a seasoned year 9. You might get teachers you’ve not met before or you might be moving schools entirely – it’s scary stuff! But, there are lots of ways you can help your child settle into the new school year.

It can be really beneficial to create realistic routines for kids to follow, particularly as starting school adds more structure to their lives compared to the summer holidays. Ultimately, starting a new school year is fun but a challenge for both the kids and the parents, so check out some useful tips below that will help ease your child into it!

Keep their mind agile with regular reading time

It is well known that reading has countless benefits for children and teenagers, not least limiting their screen time! Whilst some kids are born bookworms, others might be a bit more hesitant, making it all the more important to plan regular reading times into their new school schedule.

One way of motivating reluctant readers to pick up a book is to use personalised books, like the ones available here. By having their name featured in the story, they are far more likely to be interested in the book and reading. Regular reading is a great habit to develop early on, as it is easy and simple to implement, plus you never know, they might become the next John Grisham!

Designate a particular place for them to keep their new school things

One of the most worrisome parts of the new school year as a parent is your child forgetting an art project or asking for food tech ingredients an hour before school starts. Or, even worse, them losing the hideous pink sparkly pencil case they spent all summer talking about. That’s why Apartment Therapy has come up with a great tip: create a good spot for your kids to keep all their rucksacks, workbooks and planners, so they never lose anything again!

This space is probably best near the front door, but whatever works for your household. If you can help your kids develop the habit of coming home and putting all their things in one place, they will struggle to forget things and hopefully they’ll be reminded of anything they needed to do when they got home.

This will also make your life easier when leaving in the mornings, as you can double-check they have got everything they need for the school day!

Create a plan for the afternoon once school finishes

Your children might be used to doing whatever they wanted to during the summer holidays, so they’re probably going to come home from school and instantly run off to play or watch TV. This is why it is important to plan ahead to the afternoons after school, so they continue following a structured day and get things done!

It all depends on the child, of course. Some kids will need time to themselves after school to process and unwind before starting homework, whereas other kids might be more productive with their homework straight after school whilst they’re in the right mindset. Schedule time for relaxing or doing homework and be strict with following it, so they understand the importance of being productive.

Stick to an early bedtime

With the after school schedule in mind, it’s crucial to factor in an early bedtime for your children. It might not always seem like it, but school is mentally and emotionally draining, making sleep more important than ever. If you get them into the habit of getting to bed early, they’ll wake up feeling refreshed and ready for another hard day of school.

Everybody needs different levels of sleep and this changes a lot as kids grow up, as Active Kids explains here. When your child gets a bit older, try having a discussion with them about a reasonable bedtime that will ensure they get plenty of sleep. This will help make sure they stick to the bedtime chosen by them, as opposed to a specific bedtime that has just been forced onto them.

All these habits are essential for making life easier for both your child and you when starting a new school year, so give them a go and see how it goes! With all the ups and downs of lockdowns this year, it’s good to create new habits and routines for your child so they can get used to the structured timetable of school and see themselves flourish and succeed in all their classes!

Many factors can lead expose your skin to ageing. Some of these factors, such as natural ageing, cannot be prevented. Fortunately, others are easy to manage. Here are the top ways to reverse premature skin ageing.

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Limit your exposure to sunlight

Whether you are running errands or relaxing at the beach, protecting your skin from the scorching sun is advisable. Always seek shade, wear clothes that protect your skin from direct exposure to sunlight, and apply sunscreen.

Additionally, avoid direct exposure to sunlight by limiting your movement in the sun. If it is a beach day, spend most of your time in the water and avoid sunbathing for extended periods. 

Use skincare products

Do you know reverse premature skin ageing by using anti-aging skincare? There are many skincare products designed to keep your skin youthful and healthy. 

Consider using these products as recommended by the manufacturer or your dermatologist. Accordingly, be cautious of the ingredients used to manufacture some products. Some skincare products are made using chemicals that are harmful to your skin and overall health. Always check the label for the list of ingredients. 

Get hydrated

Water comes with a host of health benefits, ranging from digestion to reduced inflammation. Similarly, your skin requires plenty of water to stay young and smooth. Staying hydrated helps the skin heal and regenerate faster from damage. This is crucial in reversing premature skin ageing and restoring healthy skin.

Drink plenty of water every day to stay hydrated and boost your skin health.

Eat a healthy diet 

Experts suggest that fruits and vegetables prevent premature skin ageing. Accordingly, highly processed food with added sugar and salt may accelerate the development of wrinkles and spots on your skin. Refined carbohydrates are also dangerous to your skin. Replace these unhealthy foods with a healthy, balanced diet today to reverse premature skin ageing and restore your skin’s youthful glow.

Exercise

Physical activities that involve sweating improve blood circulation and immunity. Accordingly, exercise helps you open your sweat pores to remove toxic substances that may accumulate beneath the skin. This, in turn, prevents skin ageing. Reverse premature skin ageing by exercising daily and engaging in activities that make you sweat. However, you should not forget to wash your skin gently after sweating.

Quit smoking 

Smoking has many adverse effects on your health. Research indicates that smokers tend to experience premature skin ageing compared to non-smokers. The chemicals in cigarettes speed up skin ageing by developing wrinkles and a sallow complexion. 

Stop smoking to protect your skin and reverse premature ageing, among other health benefits.

Wash your skin

Scrub your skin gently every day using soap and water to prevent irritation from accumulating dust and dirt. Cleaning your skin also removes substances that may speed up premature ageing, such as chemicals from makeup.

Perspiration also irritates the skin. Therefore, you should ensure you wash your skin daily to remove sweat and other harmful substances that cause skin ageing. 

Final thoughts

Have you noticed symptoms of premature skin ageing, such as wrinkles and spots? Use these tips to reverse them and restore your healthy, youthful skin. Above all, get a good night’s sleep on a clean bed and pillows to protect your skin and improve regeneration and healing. 

Once you step into motherhood, keeping up with the latest trends may be the last thing on your mind. However, to put a spring in your step and boost your confidence, finding your style again and wearing clothes that match your personality can help. Your mind and body go through a lot during pregnancy and afterwards, so if you have lost your sense of personal style, here are some simple tactics you can take on board today. 

Embrace Your New Body 

Although many of us would love nothing more than to have toned body straight after giving birth, your body won’t spring back to its pre-baby self as quickly as you would hope. Understandably, it will take time to get back into shape, so instead of feeling deflated and unhappy with the way you look, try and embrace your new body and remember all the hard work you’ve gone through during pregnancy. When it comes to finding clothes that fit you, establishing your body shape and accepting your figure is key. Don’t try and squeeze into pre-baby clothes initially or purchase garments that are too big.  

Clear Your Wardrobe 

As a busy mum, you will have limited time for yourself, so when it comes to waking up and getting ready for the day, having all your clothes aligned together in your wardrobe can be a big help. If your wardrobe is overflowing with items, it’s time to get rid of maternity wear and anything that doesn’t reflect your personal taste anymore. Once you begin getting rid of clutter and organising your wardrobe space, you will be left with clothes that you feel good in. 

Invest in Heels 

Even though we’re facing unprecedented times due to the coronavirus outbreak, once restrictions lift and we’re able to get out and about, having a pair of killer heels at your disposal will mean you’re ready for any kind of occasion. As a hardworking mum, you need to have something to look forward to, so kitting your wardrobe out with designer items, like these Valentino Shoes, will mean you have the perfect heels to wear. You will find a variety of Valentino Shoes alongside other designers like Gucci and Versace at SSENSE. If you’re looking for accessories to pair with your shoes, this site also sells clothing and bags you can check out. 

Find a New Bag 

Whether you’re running daily errands, heading for lunch with the girls, or off to work, having the perfect bag on your shoulder can make all the difference. Once you enter motherhood, your priorities will naturally change, so you need to find a bag that not only looks the part but is functional and can store all the essentials. 

While most of your time will be taken up with running around after the kids, it’s important that you allocate some time for yourself and what interests you. As you can see, there are lots of things you can do to reignite your passion for fashion and help you choose clothing that represents you in the best light.