Keeping your family healthy, well-fed, and with a roof over their head is a priority among parents but with the flu season finally taking over, how can you protect your family? Moreover, according to CDC, a flu vaccine is only 36% effective for this season. So what added measures can you do to boost their immune system to fight against the nasty flu?
That’s why we have rounded up a couple of key tips on how you can keep your family healthy in all circumstances:
- Develop good habits
Developing good habits can improve an individual’s character as it gives them a sense of purpose and it definitely improves one’s own mood. Developing good habits as a family, however, can develop a sense of harmony and better relationships between siblings, and kids and their parents. Here are some good habits that you can try to instill into your family’s everyday lifestyle:
- Help them develop the habit of stretching out 5-10 minutes every day after they wake up. This is a good habit to develop if you want your family to avoid any injury later during the day while they are at work or at school. By doing so, they will also have better blood circulation in their body.
- Hold family dinners every night and take this opportunity to ask every one of your family members about their day. Develop the good habit of opening up to each other as communication is vital for healthy family relationships. Make sure that everything is heard and that every concern is addressed.
- Habits aren’t only confined to what you do every day, but the way you manage your health as well. Consider taking family insurance from sources such as this site when it comes to keeping your family healthy.
- Feed them well
Healthy nutrition may be taught in school as early as pre-k but it should always start in the comfort of your own home. As a parent, your children will always look up to you as a role model to make sure your diet is healthy. Here are some ways that you can ensure they will be eating right:
- Make sure to serve them only healthy food and don’t create the habit of giving sweets such as candies and chocolates as a regular treat. Instead, instill in their minds that these very occasional treats have massive amounts of sugar and should only be eaten from time to time.
- Serve them healthy breakfast and dinner always. While you can check out what the cafeteria will be serving your children for the week, you can always guarantee that they will be eating right when you prepare their lunch yourself. Just make meals are prepared in accordance with the Food Pyramid recommendations.
- Teach them about good hygiene
Practicing good hygiene is one way of fighting the bacteria out to get us. It can be as simple as taking a bath every day to prevent germs from sticking onto one’s bodies and infesting areas where they shouldn’t be. It could also mean hiring Puget Sound Cleaners (or a similar cleaning company near you) to clean your home each week, preventing harmful bacteria from spreading in areas like the kitchen. You can:
- Teach your family about washing their hands before and after they eat
- Remind them to always have to rub alcohol in their bag for emergencies
- Remind them to religiously change and wash their sheets as well as towels every week. Bacteria from moisture and from your body will harbor in these objects mainly because your body is in contact with them regularly. It is also these things that your nasty dead skin cells will fall onto every day so make sure everything is spick-and-span clean.
- Hold general cleaning in each and everyone’s room once every two weeks to clear off the dust bunnies and remove spoiled food left in the trash bin. This will allow you to keep off bacterias from finding a home in your house.
- Workout as a family
Keeping a tradition of family exercise can keep your family healthy and make your bonding stronger. Why release endorphins alone when you can release endorphins together as a family? Consider the things below in order to easily fit in some family exercise activities:
- Go together for a run on a Sunday morning
- Play tag in the backyard
- Take your pet dogs out for a walk
- Go for a monthly biking at the park or hiking in the nearest hill—your family will surely be having a fun time sweating off those toxins and fats while sharing good laughs in between.
Keeping your family healthy does not mean you have to shell out thousands of dollars on vaccines to keep them away from nasty viruses and diseases, sometimes all it takes is just creativity to think of ways all of you can bond over living healthier and happier lives!
Jessica Wilson
Jessica is a professional health expert who works for some major health industry giants. She currently writes for Membersown and is dedicated to helping people learn more about health-related topics along the journey. When she’s not a health advocate, she enjoys some downtime traveling or talking with family.
