Two Simple Steps to Healthy, Active Kids!

Is it easy to keep your kids active and healthy? As a parent you may feel like it’s a constant worry; are they doing the right activities? Are they eating the right things? Hopefully these two easy tips involving nutrition and sport will put your kids on the right track to a healthy, active and happy future.

Step 1: Are you really what you eat? School age children have high nutritional needs but often small appetites, you may wonder how your child isn’t wasting away before your eyes with the little food they eat (although obviously this is not always the case- and definitely won’t last into their teens when they’ll be demolishing the contents of your fridge daily!). The key to feeding school age children is regular eating and ensuring all meals and snacks are high in nutrients and energy. Not only will this give your child the energy they need for the playground but it will also contribute to developing healthy eating habits for later life! You should base your child’s meals on the five main food groups; fruit and veg, bread rice pasta and potatoes, milk and dairy foods,meat fish eggs and beans, foods containing fats and sugar.

The ‘healthy eating plate’ shows the proportion of each meal that should be made up of foods from each group. You should limit the amount of sugary snacks and drinks your child has, although it does provide energy it isn’t the right kind of slow release energy they’ll need for their day and it can contribute to tooth decay and weight gain. As well as varying the foods they consume by food group, there are also some key nutrients that should always be included in your child’s diet for healthy development; Calcium, Folate and Iron. Calcium, vital for healthy bone development in children, is found in milk, cheese, yoghurt and fromage frais but also in fortified orange juice, green leafy vegetables and cereals. Folate is essential for growth in children and has been found to be low in children who regularly skip breakfast! You’ll find folate in cereals, bread, green leafy vegetables and pulses. Finally Iron is essential to keep red blood cells healthy and can be found in red meat, pulses and beans. A little tip to help iron absorb more effectively; combine it with Vitamin C rich foods such as orange juice!

Snacking is always a difficult thing to get right when it comes to kids, but before you give in to the prolonged “Pleeeeeeeease Mum” and reach for the jammy dodgers, here are some snack ideas that are full of nutrients and should hopefully put smiles on their faces to;

·                          Crunchy muesli and yoghurt

·                          Toasted crumpet or teacake

·                          Fresh fruit

·                          Low-fat yoghurt or fromage frais

·                          Nuts, seeds or dried fruit

·                          Small carton of milk

·                          Fruit smoothies

·                          Cheese and crackers or oatcakes

·                          Slice of fruit loaf or malt loaf

Step 2: Get them active!! Sport can be great for kids primarily for them to have fun and enjoy themselves, but it has a lot of other benefits too! Playing sport can encourage confidence in your child and establish a real sense of team work and achievement- especially if you provide them with bag loads of praise! Let your child have a say in what sport they play, if they are doing something they enjoy they are more likely to excel at it, make friends and much less likely to feel demoralised. While competition can be fun for some kids, some do shy away from it so don’t push them as it may put them off participating at all. Take the lead from your child as to whether they are keen to compete or just want to enjoy the game. A balance between sport and play is essential; they might need to try several sports before they find something they really enjoy! Taking part in sports and active games from a young age will encourage healthy active habits for later life and essentially keep your kids healthy and developing well- excellent news!