This post was sponsored by Nature Made® as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central.
I’m not an expert on kids or health. I never claimed to be. I’m really just trying to be a girl friend that wants to impart some knowledge that I have gathered by parenting my little daughter. I’m still learning everyday about being a good parent. I’m here to give you some ideas on how to keep your kids healthy and happy. Some days these things work and somedays nothing works. Before I had children, I thought that you could control your children’s behavior and actions based on good parenting choices. Now that I am a parent, I know that you cannot control children and that it is just not as simple as good parenting.
Playing Outdoors
I like to have my daughter to play outdoors as much as possible. There are tons of studies showing that outdoor play is good for your kids. From experience, I can tell you that my daughter is much easier to be around after she gets her outdoor play. Just as I feel less stressed after spending time outdoors, I notice that my daughter seems more relaxed after playing outside. Also, she seems less impatient and cranky after a good play outside. Her attention span indoors seems increase as well.
Good Nights Sleep
Kids should be sleeping about 10 to 13 hours per day. I can see a huge difference between a well rested baby and tired baby. When she wakes up well rested, she exudes happiness with a big smile on her face.
We mostly have a good sleep schedule going. Our goal is to get her down at 7:30 PM. That was going smoothly for a while and then suddenly she stopped wanting to go to sleep at her bed time. For a few weeks, she has been going down around 11PM. This new sleep pattern has been messing with everyone in the house.
We are trying to get back into a better routine. When my daughter and husband get home from work and school, we play outside for about an hour, then we eat dinner. After we eat, we head to the warm bath that is focused on relaxing not stress. After the bath, we brush our teeth and pick out our pajamas. We pick our books and lay down in bed together. It is allabout relaxing and avoiding any distractions.
Vitamins
I take vitamins everyday to make sure that I am getting the nutrients that both me and my daughter needs. I do my best to make sure that everyone in the house gets the nutrients that they need from the food that I serve, but I cannot accomplish that when my daughter is in school all day and my husband is at work.
For a long time, we rotated between different gummy vitamins that were on sale. I recently discovered Nature Made® KIDS FIRST® Multivitamin Gummies. My daughter loves them and I highly recommend this one that we’ve been using for a while now. I found the vitamins at Target a few weeks ago, Nature Made® KIDS FIRST® Multivitamin Gummies contains 11 essential nutrients, including vitamins A, C, D and E, B vitamins, zinc and omega-3s EPA and DHA. They contain only all natural fruit flavors and colors derived from natural sources with no synthetic dyes, no preservatives or yeast and completely gluten free. †
Less Sugar
Sugar is known for causing hyperactivity. The school that my daughter attends does not allow us to pack sweets and will not give it to the children even if we pack it. We try to avoid sugar at home as well, but on the weekends, it seems to be everywhere we go.
My daughter has a sweet tooth like my husband and she constantly asks for cookies and cake. I don’t keep it in the house so that we can avoid the sugar. We never drink juice at home so there is no hidden sugar in our drinks. We either drink water or milk. The best way to avoid the sugar is to just keep it out of your home.
Eat Good Food
I do my best to cook the best food for my family and I do this by only making one meal for everyone. My daughter is not given a kid option. Her palette is used to eating real food and not just chicken nuggets and pizza. Those items are only for special occasions and treats for extra good behavior.
†These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Learn more about Nature Made® and follow on your favorite social media:
Nature Made® Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/naturemade
Nature Made® Twitter: https://twitter.com/@naturemade
Target Twitter: https://twitter.com/Target
Target Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/target
Target Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/target