4 Tips for Improving Children's Health & Wellbeing
13 May 2021
After a difficult year for everyone, it is important to look after yourself and improve your health and wellbeing.
However, it is equally – if not more – important to do the same for the children in your life. With lockdowns and school closures affecting their day-to-day lives, there has been a huge decrease in activity and social interaction.
With life slowly returning to what we once called ‘normal’, now is the time to keep a check on the little ones in your life.
Here we'll reveal some great tips for looking after children's wellbeing, including:
- Taking Part in Physical Activity
- Building & Maintaining Postive Relationships
- Limiting Technology Time
- Enforcing a Bedtime Routine
Physical Activity
Physical activity is such an important aspect of a child’s life, but the past 12 months have taken a real hit in that department. Now, with schools back open and the weather slowly improving, it is the ideal opportunity to walk to school and back.
The week commencing May 17th is ‘Walk to School Week’, so get the kids up bright and early, leave a little earlier and get some fresh air in their lungs before a day of learning!
Aside from school time, getting the little ones out to the park, beach or for a long walk is essential for keeping their health & wellbeing in great condition.
Positive Relationships
The time spent together exercising outdoors is a great way to bond and to improve communication with your little one. You may have noticed them become slightly quieter or a little withdrawn due to a lack of physical contact with non-family members for several months, so this is your chance to bring out their normal selves.
More time spent with friends will also see an improvement in behaviour. With thousands of children in the UK not seeing friends for weeks and months, they’ll be desperate to spend as much time with them as possible now.
In a safe way, with some distancing involved, friendships can be rekindled and return to what they once were.
Technology Time
With a lot of time spent indoors since March 2020, it is likely that your child will have spent a lot of time in front of a screen.
That’s no negative on anybody’s parenting as the past 12 months have been a challenge for all, but setting limits to their time spent on phones, tablets, laptops and gaming consoles is key to a better mental wellbeing.
Most smart devices can have time limits set to them that, once triggered, will lock and not allow any further access for the day.
An hour a day on certain devices will see a clear improvement in your child’s attitude.
Sleep
Of course, everyone knows how important sleep is. With children that’s no different, but even an hour or two fewer sleep than normal can result in difficult and unsettling behaviour.
On non-school days, sleep could obviously be caught up on with a nap, but their concentration and ability to soak up enough information at school would be hindered.
Try to set a nailed-on bedtime with a regimented schedule for teeth brushing, book reading and lights off by a certain time. It may be difficult to start with, but your child will get it soon enough – and most importantly, you’ll see an improvement almost immediately.
B&M Top Tip: you'll find lots of great book titles for kids of all ages in-store, from Peppa Pig to That's Not My...titles - browse our Books section online before you head in.
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