Saturday, February 3, 2007
Encouraging Adolescents to Follow Healthy Behaviors
I believe that being up front and honest with our younger generations will provide guidance for them to choose healthy behaviors. Start talking to them before they become adolescents will also help to provide them guidance and keep reminding them of health issues regularly until it becomes drilled into their heads. Parents should lead by example. It is easier for a kid to understand the benefits of living a healthy life if they can see the benefits and not just hear about them.
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5 comments:
“Current statistics show that guns kill 10 to 12 children in the United States every day on average.” (pg 65 of our textbook) I agree that parents are responsible for making adolescents grow up with healthy habits, and so if parents lead with the example of not keeping guns in the home, or making sure that are properly locked up, numerous deaths could be prevented.
There are also other things such as nutrition parents can be an example for, but it seems that everyone is on the block talking about that and worrying about it, and the things like guns, not wearing selt belts and other unnecessary activities are forgotten and not discussed.
I completely agree with you. I think healthy habits start in the home. Most children learn from their parents and if the parents are leading by example, we can't expect children to live healthy lives all on their own. I think teaching children about the benefits of healthy living and improving school cafeteria lunches and vending machine snacks is wonderful encouragement in their lives, but I think the bulk of the encouragement needs to come from the parents.
I completely agree with you. Children learn through example and actions, not just by listening. I have learned this through my younger cousins because you could tell them to do something, but if they don't see you following the same actions, they will not listen to what you tell them. Adolescents are a hard age to teach because that is the time in life when you try to become independent and you are faced with many important decisions.
Oh yeah parents should lead by example, don't you know. That is simply the most important teaching method for parents. I'm sure we can all think of instances where our parents didn't exactly practice what they preached...but when it comes to health, leading by example does help kids in the long run. I think repeating a matter can become annoying. I am now a young adult, and my parents do annoy me with their repetitious nagging on all kinds of subjects. I think it is important for parents to sit down talk to their kids, and simply amplify the importance of eating right, and staying healthy (including using those preventative measures assessed in our assignment).
I could not agree more with the fact that we need to be up front and honest with our children. I think that we try to sugar coat things sometimes. I think that we forget as parents how much our children watch us and do what we do. I do not want to push the blame off on the world but this is a really tough world to be raising a child in. You can only filter so much. At the same time if you lay a good foundation more than likely they will do what is right when they are not in your presence.
I tease my husband all the time about our son. I tell him that if our son turns out like me we will be just fine. Truth be know—I worry about it daily wondering if I am doing what is best for him.
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