How Good Role Models Teach Children Good Health Habits

How did you learn to talk? If you are like billions of other people you did so by mimicking the sounds you heard others making. This is just a single illustration of how people are usually influenced by those around them, and also of how profound those influences can be. The same can be said about a parent’s personal health habits, and how these affect their children.

For example, it has been studied and proven over and over again that parents who are concerned about their own health, and who exercise and eat a healthy diet, will also tend to have children who automatically do the same. This is not because good health and habits are instinctual, but because the parents are actually serving as a role model to their kids.

This means that good health is a learned habit? Absolutely! Just consider how someone who grows up in a household in which the television reigns supreme and where most meals come out of boxes and cans will consider all of that extremely normal. They have learned that food and entertainment are supposed to be found in such a way. Now, consider the child whose parents were very mindful of their health and who prepared meals from whole foods and healthier ingredients, while also making a point of ensuring that every member of the family was active for at least an hour each day.

Clearly, good health takes a bit of effort and thought, but it is the only way to a higher quality of life and fewer health problems in later years. Parents should make health as significant of an issue as they do good grades and good behavior in public, because it is something that has to be “learned by doing.” Parents are the ideal role models for life-long good health simply because they can easily influence their children to make all of the right decisions about daily health options.