Do your kids understand how their mood influences their choices throughout the day? Learning about emotions and practicing mindfulness is a great way of helping your child to regulate their mood and improve their motivation to make healthy choices.
However, there’s more to it when it comes to making healthy decisions. Sanford Fit’s learning platform separates the idea of whole-body health into four pillars of wellness that help your child develop lifelong healthy habits.
Motivate your mood
With so much going on in the world, it’s important for kids to understand their feelings and emotions and how they impact their mood. Educating your kids on how to identify their feelings, as well as coping strategies to apply when in need, will greatly benefit them at home and at school.
Sanford Fit has many simple and effective resources like the “How I Feel” printable that challenges children to identify how they feel, why they feel this way, and then brainstorm a few things they can do to motivate their moods. Walk through this activity with your kids or encourage them to use it on their own when they need to work through those strong feelings and emotions.
Teach your child other positive ways to deal with strong feelings:
- Take deep breaths
- Talk to a grown-up
- Squeeze play dough
- Hug a stuffed animal
- Count to 10
- Move or stretch your body
- Color or draw a picture
Empowering children with decision-making skills gives them the chance to practice making positive decisions and equips them to make healthy decisions in the future.
Of course, not all decisions are positive. Part of learning how to make thoughtful and healthy decisions is allowing children to make poor ones. This gives them the opportunity to learn from experience and make better decisions in the future.
So remember: Stop and think about your energy and mood, then make a healthy choice.
Learn more
- How to promote social and emotional health in youth
- Self-care and mindfulness benefit the whole family
- Decisions, decisions: Offering your preschooler choices
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Posted In Children's, Family Medicine, Healthy Living, Parenting
