Beth Aldrich, green-living expert and resident healthy mom offers tips and tools to ensure a healthy, safe and successful school year.
- Make a list of healthy-living goals for the entire family for the school year and post them in a visible location. This creates accountability. Goals could include allotting at least 30 minutes to reading before bed or practicing spelling words while walking before or after dinner.
- Start every day right with a healthy breakfast such as oatmeal, eggs or fruit. Breakfast is the meal that keeps you going all day. For more healthy eating tips, visit RealMomsLoveToEat.com.
- Develop a smooth morning routine and follow it religiously to avoid tardiness and stress.
- Adults and children should get at least eight hours of sleep each night. Make bedtime more enjoyable for everyone by establishing a routine of bath-time followed by reading-time and instill good sleeping and reading habits by following this routine as much as possible.
- Stay organized, create structure and “places” for everything &emdash; and within reach &emdash; so your child knows where to find things and can rely on them being there.
- Help your child be proactive with homework and studying. Work on your own projects alongside your child to model work behavior and to show support.
- Take an active role in your child’s learning and development by volunteering at school, coaching after-school activities or organizing active, educational gatherings. Keep the spirit of the activity positive and applaud each child for his/her own contributions. When home, hang your child’s work proudly for the entire family to see.
- Regularly have your child’s eyes examined. Twenty-five percent of children struggle with vision problems that could impact learning. Eighty percent of everything a child learns in his first 12 years comes through his eyes. If corrective lenses are needed, select lighter, stronger and safer lenses such as Airwear.
- When your child succeeds, enthusiastically share the news with family members, letting her know your excitement for her achievements and hard work.
- Pack smart, healthy and well-balanced lunches that include fiber-rich fruits, veggies with healthy dipping sauces and water in reusable water bottles. Coordinate a trip to your local vegetable farm or farmer’s market, giving your kids money and full control of lunch-box ingredients. On packaged foods, encourage kids to read labels to be mindful of what’s going into their bodies.
- Feed the imagination by creating balance between scheduled and non-scheduled, spontaneous activities. Kids watch everything you do; so if you’re over-scheduled and over-worked, they’ll emulate that behavior. Learn to relax so your kids can, too.
- Teach your children the value of uninterrupted, unpowered alone time. This includes reading, napping, playing outside, climbing trees $mdash; anything that exercises the mind, body and soul and doesn’t include vegging out in front of the TV or game station.