Naturally Healthy Parenting The parent's guide to a healthy family
The vibrant cheers of the end of school bellow from students everywhere giving way to the fun-filled vacation season of summer. Most of plan our family getaways around this time and things just slow down, in general. It is our time to relax.
However, the absence of school is no reason to stop learning. After all, school does not teach certain life skills our children will need once they leave the nest and make a life for themselves. Below are three habits you could take the extra time to teach to your kids.
How To Handle Money
Everyone should learn how to tend to their money responsibly, at one time or another. It is the lack of this kind of guidance that has so many young people in debt up to their ears. Take the summer to teach your children about how the money in the house works. This lesson can be started as early as two years of age.
For your smaller children, begin with being able to identify coins and dollar bills. As they get older, you can begin to teach them how to count change when they make a purchase, but more importantly, whether they should make the purchase at all. Open their eyes to the dangers of impulse buying.
Set up a system, usually doable with a simple allowance, where you can show your child how to budget their money. Make sure to include the habit of saving. Lastly, as they reach about 10 or 11, teach them how to maintain a checking account. Include how to write checks, keep receipts, and balance a checkbook.
How To Take Care Of The Yard
There will come a day when your child rents or owns their own home and they will be responsible for taking care of their own lawn. Summer is the perfect time to instill the skills they will need. Most every place is warm enough in the Summer for the grass and weeds to begin to grow. Take the opportunity to teach your son or daughter how to take care of the grass.
You can start this habit when your child reaches about 10 years of age. Begin by giving them a tour of the mower, weed eater, and any other tools you use to take care of your yard. Make sure to emphasise the dangers of using any equipment or tools in a manner that it is not meant for.
Next, teach them about how and when to water the grass. Morning is the best time to set up this lesson. Finally, show them how to keep the yard fertilized. Different people accomplish this different ways. You could have him/her just leave the grass clippings in the yard, or you may have a certain fertilizer you use to spread over the grass.
How To Cook Simple Meals
With the invention of the microwave, children everywhere have been spoiled and convinced that cooking is an old fashioned idea and no longer necessary. Unfortunately, most microwavable foods are loaded with salt, fat, and other unhealthy options for our kids and are not the best choice for their growing bodies.
Use the Summer months to teach your kids how to cook some simple dishes. You can begin having your child help you out in the kitchen around 3 or 4 years of age. Make sure that the tasks you assign them are within their ability to perform. One of the easiest things to make is spaghetti. Only the meat, sauce, and noodles are involved and if you so desire, it is nothing to place some garlic bread on a cookie sheet and bake a few minutes.
This meal is not only simple, it’s healthy, filling, and fun. Another simple thing to teach your youngins’ to cook is eggs. There is simply nothing to cracking an egg or two and scrambling it in a frying pan. As they get the hang of things, you can show them how to cook an omelet or even prepare them sunny side up.
Children, these days, are lacking the parental guidance of old. Take the Summer months to instill skills in them that they will use for a lifetime. You will not only be preparing them for the world, but you will make some incredible memories and bring your family closer in the process.
