Parenting

A lot of people scratch their heads and wonder what they can do to keep their kids happy and healthy without spending lots of money. Dr Joe Kosterich talks about basic things that parents can do for their kids, including providing healthy diets and physical activity, and spending time and communicating with them.

Parenting is the one job that most of us will end up doing in this life. It’s also the one job for which there’s no formal training and no specific qualifications you can have other than watching your parents doing it first. A lot of people scratch their heads and say, what can I do to keep my kids healthy and happy and not have to spend millions of dollars? The really good news is that there are some very basic things that you can do that will achieve exactly that.

Number one, is that we want our kids to grow up healthy so we need to make sure we’re putting healthy foods into their bodies. In much the same way that we wouldn’t put diesel into a car that runs on unleaded, we don’t want to put a lot of sugary and processed foods into our children’s bodies.

Our children’s bodies needs building blocks: they need some protein which is going to come in the form of either meat, fish, chicken or vegetable proteins, and they need some fruits and vegetables. Why? Because that is what our body has thrived on for 10,000 years; our genetics have hardly changed in 10,000 years and what the body needs hasn’t changed much either.

So, kids don’t need soft drinks; they do need water. They don’t necessarily need a lot of biscuits and muesli bars; they do need fruits and vegetables. Some nuts, seeds and berries are fine as well. Often people say “my kids won’t eat that” so start them early – get their taste-buds aligned to whole foods from an early age. Let them have a treat from time to time – that’s fine – but don’t give them 27 treats everyday and get them used to the idea that that’s what we eat.

Kids need to be active; up until 100-years-ago, running around to get from a to b was not an option – we just had to be active in our daily lives. Today, it’s fairly easy for kids to sit on the couch, in front of a game, or in front of a TV or computer screen; however, they still need to be active to be healthy. It’s been shown that children who do regular exercise and sports will sleep better, and if they sleep better then that also tends to influence the sorts of foods they’re likely to want to eat. So, children should be active at least 30 minutes every day; switch off the TV and send them outside to run around and kick a ball, or throw a ball. Throw or kick the ball with them because that’s the other really basic thing that children need: you.

Throwing lots of presents at children is nice, buying them some things is great, but at the end of the day nothing makes up for the time that you as a parent spend with your children. You don’t have to take them to the movies, you don’t have to take them on an expensive holiday. Take them down to the park, take them down to the beach and take them over to visit people. Just spending time with your kids is important.

Know what’s going on in your children’s lives; it’s particularly important as they become teenagers. It doesn’t mean that you have to snoop or spy, but you need to have a bit of an idea about what is going on and have open chains of communication. Kids want to be able to know that they can talk to you. They don’t necessarily want to tell you everything, but to have communication lines open is probably the single most important thing that you can do as a parent. Again, it doesn’t cost tens of thousands of dollars and it’s not something that’s beyond anyone’s capability.

So to recap, very simple: get the basics right and it will help keep your kids healthy and happy. Give them the right foods to eat, put the right fuels in their body; a child running on the wrong fuel will run as well as an unleaded car running on diesel – it’s just not going to happen. Get your kids active – get active with them. Most adults don’t get enough exercise either so getting active with your kids is important. Make sure they go to bed on time, it’s not an optional thing; it’s not “when do you want to go to bed”, it’s “you are going to bed” and be strict with that.

Make sure that you are there for them; you don’t have to be there 24/7 and it doesn’t mean that you can’t go to work or do other things, but keep the communication channels open. Is all of this a guarantee that kids won’t make mistakes or things won’t happen? No it isn’t, but if you get the basics right, like you before them, your kids will grow up happy and healthy.

More information

For more information on parenting, including child development milestones, work-life balance and tips for spending more time with family, see Parenting.