Tips for a Healthier School Year

The average mom's to-do list for back to school can be daunting. Shopping for backpacks, lunch bags, pens and clothes can lead moms to forget to equip their kids with the most important back to school accessory-healthy habits. Making healthy habits a routine at the beginning of the school year will lead to a fewer illnesses and the best performance possible out of your young student.

1. Teach Hand Hygiene

The single most important action that can prevent illness is hand washing. Teach your kids to wash their hands frequently to prevent the spread of common colds and viruses. The proper hand washing technique dictates that a dime sized amount of soap be vigorously lathered up and thoroughly washed for at least 15 seconds before rinsing and drying. The old school trick was to sing Yankee Doodle Dandy to estimate the 15 seconds, but if you use your imagination and pick a current song your kids like, whether it be from Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, or some rapper you have never heard of, you will likely get more cooperation.

2. Set Sleep Patterns

The night before the first day of school parents are very diligent about bedtimes to ensure that their children are well rested for the first day of school. But what happens to the rest of the year? In reality, the first day of school provides much less learning than say the 84^th day but that is the day everyone rests up for. For healthier, happier students, use the start of a new school year to set healthy sleep patterns and then follow through for the entire year. Sleep is essential for growing bodies. And, as any seasoned parent will tell you, sleep is vital in keeping children happy and pleasant instead of sullen and grouchy.

3. Make Multivitamins Mandatory

In a perfect world people would get all the necessary vitamins they need through a healthy diet. Real parents know though that some nights, McDonalds is your best option for supper. To offset the days when your child's diet may not be dietician approved, incorporate a children's multivitamin into their routine. A quality multivitamin will provide your child a boost in vitamins both necessary for growing children and vitamins that will help maintain a strong immune system. Instead of loading up vitamin C at the first sign of sniffles, head off the sniffles with a daily multivitamin.

4. Lunch

Although all meals are important, lunch for school aged students is the meal that can often be most controlled. Rushed mornings and hectic evenings often lead to convenience foods and quickly inhaled meals. Make the most of lunch and create a plan for sending your child off to school with great lunches all year.

Start by asking your child which school meals he or she likes to buy when available. Then get their input on what kind of food they like in a packed lunch. This conversation will help you identify how often a packed lunch is necessary and will help you monitor and guide their choices.

Once you have come up with a menu of options, figure out when and how you can make it convenient for you. Many moms find that cooking large batches of food on Sunday night can help them make it through the busy week with great meal choices. Set up a shopping and preparation schedule for yourself so then when you do send your child off with a packed lunch, it is a carefully planned nutritious meal, and not whatever leftovers you found in the fridge.

5. Schedule down time

Raising well rounded children can create incredibly hectic schedules. Every activity has a schedule and then those schedules are meshed with other family schedules to account for almost every minute of everyday. To keep your kids healthier, make an effort to schedule down time in the midst of all these activities. Giving your child downtime is crucial in allowing them to relax, rest and re-energize. The stress from a hectic schedule can weaken the immune system leaving a busy child susceptible to illness. Often once a child is ill, the illness will drag on because the hectic schedule continues too. Children (and adults for that matter) often have a hard time recognizing that they need a break. As a parent do your kids a favor an make downtime a priority for the sake of your child's mental and physical health.

Setting a good foundation for a healthy school year can be done by focusing on a few key points. Taking care of a growing student by ensuring nutritious lunches, supplemental vitamins and rest and relaxation will go along way in preventing illness throughout the school year. Most importantly, children should be taught hand hygiene to prevent from catching or spreading illness inducing germs. Starting your kids off with healthy habits this school year should lead to less illnesses and better grades!

Sources:

Austen, Elizabeth. 8 Tips for a Healthy School. Year. http://www.parenting.com/article/Toddler/Health/8-Tips-for-a-Healthy-School-Year. Accessed 7/16/2010.

Personal Experience