Giving Your Child Good Habits For Life - s post

Chances are that when you wake up in the morning, a good portion of your early routine runs on autopilot. This is the natural function of our brain at work, trying to make things easier for you by putting certain habits into place. There’s a classic study that suggests it takes 21 days of consecutively doing something to turn it into a habit, which may be why we see so many diets and workout routines fizzle out before hitting this point.

However, when it comes to children, the stakes may be a bit higher. When it comes to establishing good and bad habits, you may be creating trends that can last for years to come, impacting their health, school performance, and beyond. Here are some ways that you can get started on the right foot.

Let’s start by talking about healthy habits. It can be difficult to establish these in some households because it generally requires more than one thing to be done in order to actually stay healthy. A good example of this is oral hygiene. Think about it. The key to dental health is regularly practicing brushing and flossing as well as monitoring your diet for excess sugar.

Another thing you should be doing is making sure that you get in the habit of visiting a dentist on a regular basis. According to Dr. Mileidis Pena Marro of Truedent Family Dentistry in Miami, FL, “Regular dentist visits for your child should start shortly after his or her first birthday. This is usually a short visit and acts as an introduction to both the dentist and oral health care in general. No major treatment is involved during this initial visit and you are encouraged to hold your child’s hand while his mouth is being examined. The object of the visit is to check your child’s teeth to make sure that there are no problems and to show the young one that a trip to a dentist’s office can be a stress-free experience.”

If your child is a bit afraid of going to the dentist, as many are, what you don’t want to do is get of the habit of trying to bribe or trick them into going. This only establishes the negative habit that they may get rewarded by being difficult about something, or that you aren’t to be trusted on certain things. Ideally, you’ll be able to explain the importance of the visit to allay their fears, and in extreme cases, sedation dentistry may be an alternative.

This belies one important point when it comes to instilling habits in your children: try to focus on the positive. Some parents, in trying to encourage good habits like studying or exercise, may accidentally go too far in a certain direction, trying to use negative stimuli to encourage them to follow through. Have you ever seen the classic image of someone telling their child to look at a retail worker or laborer and use that as inspiration to stay in school? Not only is this an inaccurate way to look at things, it may end up causing resentment later on. When children are younger, try to focus on what they gain versus what they risk. For example, getting your child to clean their room may be framed as a way to make sure they always know where everything is.

In some cases, it may pay as a parent to be a little inquisitive when it comes to establishing good habits for your children. This can be especially useful if they are trying to start a good habit but are having trouble, like spending more time studying. Where are they finding roadblocks? If it’s with getting frustrated, you may want to give them an exercise they can do to calm down or focus on something else. If it’s a matter of distraction, you may need to find a way to keep the television or their phones off during designated study time.

The thing about habits, especially at a younger age, is that we generally don’t even recognize them as a conscious thing that we do to improve or reduce our quality of life. It’s just something that we do. By making sure that you encourage habits that encourage physical, mental, and financial health, you’re creating a platform that will help your children make the right decisions in these areas when the time comes to act alone.