All moms have their children’s best interest at heart. Still, raising a healthy child is a monumental task that requires constant vigilance and thorough planning. Indeed, roughly one in three kids in America are either overweight or obese according to the American Heart Association. Given that fact, it’s crucial that stressed-out moms have a few tips up their sleeve to ensure their child’s wellness. Fortunately, you can use these five methods to help you and your family achieve better health today.

Find Healthy Role Models

The company you keep will have an effect on your children and how they act in social situations. What’s more, this “monkey-see, monkey-do” phenomenon will also extend to their diet. If you consistently surround yourself with individuals who make healthy choices and eat healthful foods, then your child will be more willing to follow suit as well.

Eat at Home

No, it’s not always convenient to prepare a home-cooked meal, but avoiding junk food and eating at the same table with your kids will help foster healthy habits. In addition, you should encourage your child to take an interest in cooking and meal-prep themselves. Not only will this encourage them to understand food, diet, and nutrition in a more meaningful way, but it may also allow your little one to develop a love of cooking.

Destigmatize the Doctor

It’s no secret, plenty of kids are freaked out by visits to medical facilities. Checkups, dental appointments, and other health-related outings have long been a pain point for kids and moms alike. To combat this issue, it’s important for moms to acquaint their children with some of the “scarier” aspects of these visits. As such, moms should work to explain commonplace equipment like stethoscopes, otoscopes, and pediatric blood collection tubes. Remember, the more your child understands about these trips, the better prepared you’ll both be to handle them.

Enjoy Success Together 

It’s rare to find only one healthy child within a family. In most cases, either everyone in your household will practice healthy behaviors, or no one will. That means you and your partner need to set a positive example and emphasize wellness as a family. Celebrate your successes together and find common exercises and activities everyone can enjoy. 

Set Hard Limits –– And Stick to Them

Maintaining a routine is essential to raising a healthy family. Establish limits for TV and computer usage and don’t be coerced to change. It may be difficult at first to set hard-and-fast bedtimes or media restrictions, but doing so will help everyone in your family stay on the same page in the future.