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Key Points
- The article provides ten tips for parents to keep their children healthy, happy, and safe, reducing the need for visits to urgent care centers.
- These tips include ensuring children get sufficient sleep, taking vitamins, avoiding dehydrating drinks, making healthy foods fun and minimizing indoor play.
- Other suggestions include helping children make friends, avoiding exposure to smokers, teaching kids healthy habits, shielding them from stress, and ensuring they get annual immunizations.
- The article emphasizes the importance of proactive parenting in teaching children healthy habits from a young age.
- The overall goal is to protect children's physical and mental health, and to prevent unnecessary visits to urgent care centers.
There are many ways to keep kids healthy, happy, and safe, so that they never have to visit urgent care center. Here are ten tips for parents.
Make Sure They Sleep
Children need plenty of sleep in order to stay healthy. On average, a child needs ten hours of sleep a night in order to function optimally and be prepared to learn at school. Children under five and sick children need more sleep, typically at least 11 hours at night and naps as necessary.
Give Them Vitamins
In addition to a healthy diet, vitamins help kids to stay strong and develop faster. If your child doesn't like vitamins, consider getting chewable cartoon characters. Try to make the vitamins part of a nightly routine so that you and your children remember to take them.
Avoid Dehydrating Drinks
Sodas, teas, and coffees are dehydrating. They will deplete your child of the water in his or her system. Try to keep track of how much water your child is drinking to ensure it is enough. For each soda a child drinks, you should add a glass of water to his daily intake.
Make Healthy Foods Fun
By cutting healthy whole-wheat sandwiches into fun shapes with cookie cutters, or dicing veggies into small sizes, you can make eating healthfully fun for kids. Let your kid prepare food with you so that he or she will take pride in it and internalize that feeling about good foods.
Minimize Indoor Play
Indoor play, such as computers and game systems, should be limited. It can be harmful for children's social lives and concentration, as well as take away from their outdoor playtime.
Help Them to Make Friends
Having friends makes children feel more accepted and loved, which lowers stress and anxiety. Help them to make friends by signing them up for organized activities.
Avoid Smokers
Not only is secondhand smoke bad for kids, but being around smokers signals to kids that smoking is okay. Try to avoid public places where there is cigarette smoke, and talk to your kids about it.
Teach Kids Healthy Habits
From hand washing to brushing teeth, there are many healthy habits your kid needs to learn to avoid urgent care. Make a chart so that your child remembers his or her hygienic ritual each night.
Shield Children From Stress
Children who are exposed to stress become depressed and anxious. This can lead to other negative things, such as acting out at school, becoming antisocial, and feeling alone. Remember to take your fights and arguments away from your kids, and to shield them from financial woes. However, you should be open with your kid about issues they already know about so that they don't feel cut out of family business.
Get Immunizations Annually
Protect your kid from the flu and other ailments by getting annual immunizations on schedule, particularly the flu shot. You will keep your kid from going to urgent care over influenza so that they can be in school learning. By paying attention and being proactive you can protect your child, teach him or her healthy habits, and avoid urgent care centers. Parents who start young teaching children healthy
Frequently asked questions
What is the recommended amount of sleep for a child?
On average, a child needs ten hours of sleep a night in order to function optimally. Children under five and sick children need more sleep, typically at least 11 hours at night and naps as necessary.How can vitamins contribute to a child's health?
Vitamins help kids to stay strong and develop faster. They should be taken in addition to a healthy diet.Why should children avoid dehydrating drinks?
Drinks like sodas, teas, and coffees are dehydrating and will deplete your child of the water in his or her system. It's important to ensure your child is drinking enough water.How can parents make healthy foods more appealing to children?
Parents can make healthy foods fun by cutting whole-wheat sandwiches into fun shapes with cookie cutters, or dicing veggies into small sizes. Involving kids in food preparation can also make them take pride in eating good foods.Why is it recommended to minimize indoor play for children?
Indoor play, such as computers and game systems, can be harmful for children's social lives and concentration, and it takes away from their outdoor playtime.How can having friends benefit a child's mental health?
Having friends makes children feel more accepted and loved, which lowers stress and anxiety.Why should children avoid being around smokers?
Secondhand smoke is bad for kids, and being around smokers signals to kids that smoking is okay. It's important to avoid public places where there is cigarette smoke.Why is it important to get annual immunizations for children?
Annual immunizations, particularly the flu shot, protect your kid from the flu and other ailments. This can prevent visits to urgent care and allow them to spend more time in school learning.
