Your child’s health is one of the most important things as you help raise them into an adult who can take care of themselves. One thing you can do to help them stay healthy throughout their life is to help them develop healthy habits that in turn lead them to maintain a healthy weight. Staying at a healthy weight can feel complicated, but as you teach your child to make healthy decisions, you can help them to maintain a healthy body.

Teach Them to Listen to Their Bodies

One thing you can do that will point them in the direction of always maintaining a healthy weight is simply teaching them to listen to their own bodies. Their body will send them signals about when they are hungry or full and when they have energy to get out. When they are confident in their ability to listen to their body and do what they need to do to keep it feeling satisfied, they will be better at making the right decisions for what their body needs.

Help Them Enjoy Physical Activity

If you can help your child to love a physical activity, it will be much easier to help them stay active. Let your child try a variety of sports and other physical activities until they find something they really enjoy. Some kids will prefer sports like basketball or football while others will like dance, martial arts, or swimming. Swimming lessons teach vital safety skills that can help children stay safe when they're playing in the water.

Teach Them to Have a Healthy Relationship with Food

The last thing you want to do as you work to help your child maintain a healthy weight is to make them feel nervous or scared about eating food. Instead you want to teach them that food is fuel that helps them to do the things they need to do each day. Teach them about moderation in the foods they eat and try to help them understand what benefits different foods bring to their bodies. When they have a healthy relationship with food, they will be much more thoughtful about how they fuel their body.



As your child learns more about their body and what it takes to keep it healthy, they can develop great habits. Those habits will inform the way they eat, the way they exercise and the way they feel. Do what you can to encourage them to feel comfortable and happy with the body they have.