How to Help Your Teen Develop a Healthy Lifestyle

First of all, the absolute best way to have a healthy teen is to start developing their healthy habits when they are born. However, since the title of this article is how to help your teen develop a healthy lifestyle, we will assume that you missed the boat on the newborn and early childhood years and start from there. Have no fear; there is hope regardless of where you start. The main thing is simply to start. It will help if the teen is a willing participant and I do mean...help. Without any desire from your teen, you are in for an up hill battle. Nevertheless, it is a battle that you helped create so pull up your bootstraps and get ready. If your teen does not want to participate in your new lifestyle suggestion, I would recommend that you do this. If you are a believer, go to Ezekiel 36: 26 in your bible.

Memorize that scripture and before you even attempt your project, pray that scripture every day for seven days. There is nothing miraculous in the amount of days, but seven is a number that has significant meaning in the bible so to repeat this process for seven days could be scriptural, my words not His. So, now that you have asked God to change your teens heart and to remove his heart of stone and replace it with an understanding heart (the word calls that a heart of flesh) and to give your teen a new spirit, you are ready to implement the new lifestyle.

The cool thing about creating a new lifestyle is that it starts in the brain. If the brain is not healthy, it is extremely hard for anything else to get healthy. It is the old "trash in, trash out" theory. You have got to get to the trash that is in there, take it out and replace it with healthy, recycleable, information. The best way to do that is to replace it with healthy thinking. That is what we are going to focus on in this article. Remember, the participant has to be willing, and do not give up on them. If it takes more than the seven days, the bible also mentions, seven times seventy. You allowed them to put most of that trash in there, so you are now paying your "stupid" tax. They are worth this investment in your time and you will succeed if you are willing to put in the time. Regardless of where you start, this is not a quick fix.

OK, trash is not necessarily pornography, but it could be. The internet is usually a good source for that kind of trash. The other kind of trash is either violent video games or excessive video games whether they are violent or not. If the majority of what they are being fed is from a video game, they are missing out on the opportunity to get a well-rounded mix of "real life" into their system. The best way to replace trash is to spend quality time with your teen. If you have a family, the family needs to spend time together and then each child needs one on one time together. Moreover, if there are two parents, they need some two on one time together. I mean quality two on one time together. If you allow your teen to play on one of their many game sources while you are driving somewhere, and it's only the two of you, you missed a great opportunity to replace trash with a good Mom or Dad memory. However, should you chose to spend that valuable alone time complaining about something they did wrong, or about what is wrong in your life or with your day, then you are just replacing trash with trash, or just moving trash over to make room for more trash.

Don't forget, a healthy lifestyle starts in the brain. Do whatever it takes to spend valuable time getting into that place with them. If you are too busy, then shame on you. You have to find time or make time and your teen's good health depends on it. Another great place to replace trash is around the dinner table. Take the time to eat at least one meal together and make sure that the discussion is uplifting. Remember you want to replace the trash, not rearrange it. Charles Swindoll, famous author, pastor and host of the popular radio show Insight for Living wrote that God placed the book of Proverbs in the bible to help equip us for the task of raising our children. God also wrote Proverbs for children so they would know how to love and respect their parents. Read Proverbs and encourage or challenge your teen to read it and offer some kind of reward for doing so. I am not talking about a cheesy reward that teens will see right through but a reward that they will appreciate. Let that reward be their idea. Regardless of what that reward is, providing that it is not harmful mentally, spiritually or physically. You may have to lose a battle to win the war.

I have raised five beautiful children. Three of my four boys are grown and are very successful in their chosen fields. The fourth son is on the Deans list at a major University and my baby girl will join him at that college next year. I said they were beautiful and my wife and I have the scars to prove it. Your teen's healthy lifestyle depends on you. As a parent, are you taking that seriously?