Daily Self Care Habits for Happier Kids
Self care for kids is a positive parenting approach that is mindful of the activities our kids need for better mental health and physical wellness.
Self care for kids uncovers the essential needs that our children require to get them thriving with better focus, improved positivity, and gained confidence.
By simply incorporating more self care habits into your kids daily routine you will gain a better connection to your children allowing for better communication and respect as a family unit.
Self Care Activities and Self Care Habits for Kids
Self care is for everyone, especially kids who are struggling with mental and physical wellness. If your child is struggling in their day to day, begin incorporating some of these self care activities for kids to encourage growth and happiness in your child.
Physical Activities
Children need to be physically active each day. Many behavioral issues stem simply from not moving enough. Give your child the gift of self care by creating opportunities to move each day.
Better self care habits for kids includes activities like swimming, play tag, jumping rope, riding bikes, going for a hike, chasing bubbles, or simply running around the back yard.
Spend Time in Nature
Self care for kids has to include daily adventures in a nature. Build your child's connection to nature to help lower the levels of the stress hormone cortisol and increase endorphins naturally through nature.
Allow children the gift of exploring nature with self care activities kids enjoy like having a picnic, reading a book outdoors, playing with pets, simply taking a walk, or planting a garden.
Unstructured Play Time
One essential self care habit for kids includes daily unstructured play time. Encourage your child's creativity and interest through play. Children are naturally wired to play and use their imagination to explore and act out the world around them.
By simply creating quiet moments each day that invite your child to be creative and to fill that time with play is a beautiful self care activity you can easily provide.
Daily Nutrition
Nutrition plays a vital role in self care for kids. Kids are naturally more reactive to the foods they eat, so a balanced diet consisting of plenty of fresh produce and limited on processed foods can directly influence your child's behavior and mood.
Build an even bigger connection with nutrition by inviting your child to learn more about this vital self care idea through cooking together and teaching them where food comes from by growing a small garden.
Parent Child Connection
Children thrive when they feel a connection with their parents. This self care activity for kids requires parents to set aside time for building a one on one connection to their child.
Self care activities for building a better connection can include playing together, reading a book, working on a project together, building a puzzle, watching movies together, going on adventures, or simply just taking the time to listen to their day.
Limit Screens
Screens are an easy way to keep kids busy and sometimes they offer a vital moment of peace for caregivers, but be mindful of overuse.
Nobody responds well to screen overuse including kids, so simply try to limit the amount of screen time used daily to improve your child's self care habits.
Importance of Water
Water is the most simplest form of self care we can give our children. Not only is it vital for children to ingest nutritious food, but also teach them the lifestyle habit of drinking water regularly throughout the day to keep them feeling alert and well.
Self care for kids can also include water fun. Maybe its a fun afternoon of running through the sprinklers or taking a swim in the lake? How about taking a warm bath to reset on hard days or sipping a warm bowl of broth soup to uplift on sick days?
Teach your child how to have better daily self care habits just through the simple use of water.
Time to Explore
Allow your child to explore the world around them and encourage them to do so for better self care habits. Children are natural explorers who are curious about the world they live in.
For better self care, offer them opportunities to explore more including learning new skills, trying new foods, learning about new cultures, exploring the outdoors, and encouraging an open mind towards being a life long learner.
Build Animal Connections
Self care for kids can be cultivated through more animal connections. Animals can provide such a sense of security and acceptance, so they can provide a vital element of self care for kids.
This self care activity may include spending more time in nature exploring animals, having a pet to care for, or maybe creating opportunities to spend more time in an animal setting like volunteering at a local animal shelter.
Creative Time
Children are natural born creators. For self care offer quiet time each day to allow for creative time. Creative time activities for better self care for kids may look like story telling around a camp fire, DIY crafts, nature studies, or maybe a weekly painting project to help inspire more creativeness from your child.
Have Autonomy
Allow your child the freedom of autonomy over simple decisions. By allowing our children to be responsible for simple actions it provides them with a sense of control and belonging. This self care activity may include allowing your child to select their clothing for the day, allowing them to prepare a simple meal for themselves, and allowing them to have say over the daily schedule.
By having more autonomy, your child will learn to regulate their own self care routines for better wellness into adulthood.
Memorable Scents
Scents play a vital role in self care for kids as many of their memories will be tied to simply scents. Create a warm home filled with comforting scents to lower stress and increase feelings of wellness.
Create a scent filled home through the simple use of homecooked meals, scented candles, and essential oil diffusers to create a cozy comforting home that inspires better self care for kids.
Learn Responsibility
Teach your child responsibility from a young age to build the mental discipline required to be successful in life. By teaching our children from a young age the importance of responsibility we gradually build a level of confidence in our children that will directly influence their self care habits for life.
Enjoy Laughter
Make it a goal to laugh with your kids each day for better self care. Laughter is the best medicine, so make use of this simple technique to develop better self care. Self care activities that are sure to make your kids laugh include playing board games, telling jokes, playing tag, or maybe just simply watching a funny movie together.
Recite Positive Affirmations
Self care for kids should include positive affirmations. This self care activity is simple, yet powerful when developing better self care for kids. Recognizing that how we speak to ourselves can greatly influence our day, habits, and life is an important self care lesson to teach kids.
This self care activity for kids can include creating an affirmation list and gratitude journaling to instill positive thoughts in the minds of our children.
Follow Interests
Follow your children's interests for better self care. If we listen, our children will direct us to their needs and wants. By simply being present and interested in your child's interest, you can discover a foundation for building a better connection and cultivating better self care habits into your child's life.
Set a Self Care Example
Teach your child how to create better self care by modeling healthy self care habits. Our children learn best from watching our own daily habits, so set a self care example by practicing daily self care yourself.
Model self care habits you would like for your children to have by doing things like exercising, pursuing passions, being a life long learner, taking responsibility over your own nutrition, and learning to rest through healthy self care habits and better self care routines.
Have Unconditional Love
Self care for kids has the most potential when they are surrounded by unconditional love. Learn to have more patience with your kids and allow them to make mistakes. Teach them that mistakes are a part of life and that most often our greatest strengths can come from our mistakes and experiences of the past.
Give your child the foundation basic self care by allowing them to be themselves and strengthen their confidence in themselves through the cultivation of healthy self care habits.
Take the time to instill in your child how to be responsible for their own self care habits through these self care activities for kids to develop better lifelong wellness in young minds.
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