Tag Archives: parenting

Going Healthy, Guest Post

5 Healthy Summer Habits for Kids

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I’m handing the Going Dad reigns over to another stay-at-home dad who’s also into nutrition, fitness, and raising a healthy family. Sean Morris has a wealth of information on healthy living to share, and today it’s all about habits to help our kids keep healthy and have fun during the summer months.

Summer is filled with fun, relaxation, and the joy of not having a rigorous school schedule to keep up with. But summer can also mean later nights, meals from the baseball field concession stand that aren’t exactly the healthiest choices, and other poor health habits sunscreen, safety, healthy living, that can impact both physical and emotional well-being over time. Here are a few healthy summer habits to instill in your kids that will cultivate healthier habits for life.

Always Wear Sunscreen

If your child loves to spend the whole day outside in the sun, wearing sunscreen is a habit you’ve probably already developed. But even if your kids tend to spend more time indoors on their smartphones or video games, teaching them about the risks of sun damage is a valuable nugget that will help them stay healthy and well throughout their lives. The sun can cause damage even on cloudy days, so daily sunscreen application is key for all children and adults.

Check for Ticks

Ticks carry Lyme disease, and in some parts of the U.S., tick populations are growing. It’s not always possible to avoid areas where ticks are common, but you can wear insect repellent and protective clothing (with long sleeves and long pants) when you know you’ll be in an area well-populated with ticks. You should also carefully check your child’s entire body for ticks after spending time in such areas. Remove ticks properly and know when it’s necessary to seek medical attention for a tick bite.

Get Adequate Sleep

One especially useful habit to foster in your kids is getting ample rest every night. Sleep is the time your body uses to rest and rejuvenate, yet, especially during the summer, many children and young adults happily sacrifice sleep to participate in fun, late-night activities, whether they’re simply watching TV past their bedtimes or hanging out with friends. Teaching your kids now that the time they spend awake is more productive and enjoyable when they’re well-rested will prepare them to make better choices about sleep as they get older.

Stay Hydrated

When kids are having fun outdoors, it’s easy to forget about drinking water to stay hydrated. Most kids won’t think about drinking unless their bodies are telling them they’re thirsty, but they may ignore such cues if they’re having too much fun. Have your kids carry a water bottle, and encourage them to drink pure, cold water rather than sugary sports drinks. If they do have a sweet tooth, adding a splash of citrus fruit or berries can enhance the flavor of plain water, making it more appealing to some kids. Make sure they know that it’s necessary to drink more water than usual on especially hot days or when they’re engaging in rigorous physical activity.

Stay Safe Around Fire and Fireworks

Camping, Fourth of July celebrations, and other activities bring with them camp fires and fireworks displays. Kids who understand fire safety and know how to stay safe around fireworks are less likely to suffer burns or injuries. Teach your kids about the dangers of fire and fireworks, how to use child-appropriate fireworks such as sparklers safely, and safe habits to practice around fires.

Teaching your children how to stay safe in the many different circumstances they’ll encounter throughout life is no simple process. As a parent, you want to protect your child from every possible danger. While you can’t be there to keep them safe every moment, you can begin to teach them safe and healthy habits that will help them lead a long and happy life.

Sean Morris became a stay-at-home dad after the birth of his son. Though he loved his career in social work, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get to spend more time with his kids. He enjoys sharing his experiences via LearnFit.org and hopes writing for the site will help him provide other parents with tips and advice on juggling life, career, and family.

Image via Pixabay by milli_lu

Meeting other health-minded dads like Sean is always a pleasure , and hopefully he’ll share more of his tips/advice on healthy living in the future. Thank you Sean, for taking the time to create this list of handy healthy summer habits for kids!

Going Healthy, Life, Parenting

Routine Maintenance As A Stay-at-Home Parent

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Search the web or ask other stay-at-home parents around you and one of the first bits of advice you’ll hear is “Find a routine!” This doesn’t just apply to at-home parents, of course, it’s absolutely vital for all parents.

As I moved away from my full-time job at the office into my new role as a stay-at-home dad, finding a routine was high on my list of priorities. It’s been two years now and I have been pretty good about sticking to a routine and not straying from my schedule. But, that doesn’t make it a good routine.

For one thing, this created havoc on my brain when the weekend rolled around and Going Mom was home. Of course I love my wife through and through, but I was thrown off and would find that I had trouble managing this for a while….a long while. Some days I’m not sure how she even put up with me, and some days she didn’t. I deserved it.

The weekends were bad enough, but going on a trip was even worse sometimes. Yeah, it was vacation, a time to cut loose and relax, but I had so much trouble enjoying the time because it simply was not my routine. There were other factors like finding acceptable food and whatnot, but getting out of my comfort zone (i.e. routine) was the big culprit.

I’d fight with myself saying to just enjoy time with friends and family, as that makes sense, but I’d still have trouble. As time passed, my stress management from daily, weekly, and monthly changes had me on an emotional rollercoaster. I made myself miserable.

If I couldn’t workout at the same time, go on walks at the same time for the same distance, cook meals for my family, vacuum the house, get Avery down for a nap at the same time, prepare dinner, and then kiss the girls goodnight as I sat up too late on the computer, there would be a stress bomb exploding in my head. All because this “sacred” routine was broken. As a result, I’d be cranky, snap at my wife or daughter for petty reasons, and simply no fun to be around.

I would talk to my wife about it every now and then, but never letting out all of my feelings. Finally, I broke down and let it all out telling her how everything got to me and how much I hated being like this but didn’t know what to do. Being the loving, caring, and pretty much always right wife that she is, she gave me an ultimatum.

Start meditating, doing yoga, or something to better manage my stress, or within three weeks, I would need actually seek help from a doctor about my stress. Whoa, doctors? No thanks, seeing enough of them for my shoulder as is, and I refuse to resort to prescription meds as a way to cover up the stress and anxiety.

We’ve had similar talks before where I said I needed to change, but they rarely lasted longer than a month. But this last time was different, and everything had built up more than ever, so I committed to make changes for the better.

I used to start my day by waking up right as Going Mom left for work. I’d then get Avery up and fed as I prepared dinner for the night and lunch for my wife to take to work the next day. Most of the time, I’d fail to get much food for myself, and then proceed to try and get in a workout with Avery in the garage. Trying to perform a set of heavy squats with a screaming toddler behind you is enough to drive monks up-the-wall-insane, which only further exacerbated my already high stress levels.

I’d finally eat after Avery went down for a nap and then plan on eating mostly late at night when everyone went to sleep. This meant staying up late and getting little sleep for myself. Thanks to my wife and the help of Shawn Stevenson’s book Sleep Smarter, I find the main cause of my routine stress; SLEEP.

Going Mom had a simple solution, try going to sleep earlier. Whoa, mind blowing! I’ve thought of doing it before, but held on so dearly to “my time” at night and just didn’t want to change. Well, I pushed my selfish thoughts off to give it a try.

Instead of staying up to stare at the computer for a couple hours at night, I went to sleep the same time as my wife. Here’s the kicker, I woke up earlier feeling better than before, had some tea/coffee, and got my workout in before Avery woke up. The fear of missing a workout is a big concern for me, so taking care of that right off the bat immediately puts me in a more relaxed state.

From there, I have a just enough time to prepare breakfast for Avery and myself before I get her up. Then we eat at the same time and have time after to actually do more without me stressing out so much. This has been going on for just over a week and I notice I feel much better/happier than I have in a long time.

Do I still get stressed? Of course, it’s completely normal to get stressed, in fact, it’s part of how we as humans have survived, but chronic stress can literally kill us. Not because of a saber tooth tiger, but from work, family issues, body image, traffic, etc.

Needless to say, making just one change in my routine has lead to having a more fulfilling day with my daughter and wife. I have plenty of minor details to work out, but sleeping earlier and smarter has solved the bulk of my issues. Having that stress-free time in the day to have genuine fun with my wife and daughter is something I will cherish forever.

routine, stress, happy, family, changes, stay-at-home

That’s what really matters. Missing a workout is no big deal, and I know it, so hopefully I’ll work on fully accepting it when that time comes knowing I’ll be able to jump right back on board soon again.

If you’re having trouble with your current routine, try and find the one thing that will lead to many more positive changes throughout the course of the day. For me, sleep was the big one, maybe it is for you too. Whatever the case, seek it out and change for the better. Trust me, you and your friends and family will be happy you did.

Life, Parenting

How The S Word Helps With Potty Training

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We’ve been in the midst of potty training for about two weeks now and have been seeing slow but steady progress. Hopefully we’re through the initial phase which I assume is the hardest part. Thanks in part to the S word, and of course a few healthy treat incentives like No Sugar-Added Lily’s Dark Chocolate Chips sweetened with stevia.

I’ll admit, Daddy got a treat every time she went potty too. They’re just too good not to sneak a few bites!

There are many potty training methods, and while we haven’t followed any of them to the T, the method we practiced most was the Two-Day Method a neighbor friend shared with us. Yes, the fact that I stay home with our daughter was a big factor here, but it can be done over the weekend too. As our friend recommends, aim to try when you have an extended weekend from a holiday or just take an extra day off.

Since I’m not here to lay out a full potty training program, I’ll spare you the minute details. Just know that within the week, after having our daughter in the house with diapers off, asking “Do you need to go potty?” more times than there are days in a year (Every. Day), and listening to a very unhappy kid who wanted to poop in her diaper, we actually made progress.

We felt hopeless at first, but many puddles and plops, a few successes with chocolate chip rewards, and use of the S word later, our little girl is going to the potty all by herself.

No, I’m not talking about the multitude of books on Socialism, Secrets, Suicide, Submission, and S**t with the title The S Word. I’m talking about snakes!

zoo, family, snake, reptile, kids, learning

Kids are fascinated with all kinds of creatures, and since she has a reptile-loving daddy, she started using “snake” to describe what she made in the potty. After her first BIG success in the potty, she stood up, turned around, and proclaimed “Ooooo, it’s a big snake! Hissssss!”

This was a proud dad moment on many levels. I mean, she freakin made a successful poop in her potty! After cleaning several plops on the floor and couch, I was beyond happy to see this milestone. As for the smell, not so much. Since that first snake, she’s made an entire family snakes almost every day.

Mommy snake, daddy snake, and several baby snakes have all been spotted in the potty. If she’s reluctant to sit on the potty but my wife and I see that she’s overly squirmy, we just ask her to try and make a snake. 8 times out of 10, she will at least give it a shot squeeze. And 9 times out of 10, a snake, big or small, makes an appearance.

She now knows to pull her underwear down and sit on her potty by herself. If we are outside or not at home, she sometimes says she needs to go potty, but this is still a work in progress. For that we are using The Honest Company Training Pants at night time and while out and about. Gone are the days of our cloth diapers, it’s Elmo undies and training pants here on out. Eventually going to just undies of course. I’m not sure what turned her on to liking Elmo so much though….

potty training, sesame street, elmo, the s word

Ohhhh yeah, nothing like watching Sesame Street on the pot. #ToddlerLife

We are proud of our little semi-potty trained girl. There’s nothing like being in the kitchen and all of the sudden hearing her going “Hisss-hissss-hissssssss!” after making a “snake” in the potty. True story, I heard her hissing and thought she was just making animal sounds so I chimed in and hissed too. Then I turned around to an odd smell and her undies down. Go Avery!

If you’re in the process or getting ready to start potty training, either get your kids excited about snakes or some other poop-shaped creature and learn the sound they make to use it as a form of victory call after pooping in the potty. Oh, but don’t forget the chocolate chip rewards. I know, it’s an ironic treat to have for poop, so feel free to use your own reward system.

After a week or two, they’ll be so proud of using the potty, they may not care about the rewards anymore. But they’re never proud enough to want pictures taken, so don’t do this….

potty training, toddler, poop, funny, humor, parenting