Kids Are Our Future

What is a habit? It is an often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition. It is said to build a habit takes 21 days. If a person can manage to do something every day for three weeks, he or she will have a habit at the end of it.

What is a success? It is a level of social status or an achievement of a goal. Each person has his or her own successes, although very few people are remarkable in the world. Usually the bigger success, the more efforts it needs.

Determination to succeed is one of the most important habits. Where there is a will there is a way. A person with a strong will to success can face and overcome of any obstacle, keeps trying and eventually assures success.

Another important habit is to be consistent in whatever a person does. Success is not an accident, success is a good habit. Being consistent is what makes great people and great lives. Anyone who has a discipline with persistence, and works consistently, will succeed.

A goal gets a person motivated, while a good habit keeps him or her stay motivated. Some of the best habits a person should build have to do with our wealth, which is health, knowledge, and money. To create some good habits are crucial for kids’ healthy growth as well.

To build good habits should start early on. I would like to use the following story to explain how important it is.

My friend gave birth to a baby boy about 8 months ago. This was her first child so everything was completely brand new to her. Her mother also came to help taking care of her son. They love the baby so much, whenever the little baby tries to cry, mommy or grandma will pick him up promptly and hold him. Even at night, if a parent or grandma puts down the baby on the bed, he will start to cry, so mommy or grandma takes turns to hold him, it turns out mommy and grandma can not go to sleep at all, they have to hold the baby all the time. Since mommy and grandma have to hold the baby at night, daddy has to take the turn and hold the baby on daytime to let mommy and grandma go to sleep.

Eight months has passed, since the baby was born, the parents and grandma are really exhausted. The daddy thinks that the baby is spoiled by mommy and grandma, and talked to his wife several times that they should adjust their son’s habit, while each time, his proposal is rejected. His wife and mother-in-law insisted that the 8 month baby is still too young to be ignored; they just can not stand the baby’s crying. Last weekend, the daddy could not tolerate any more and became very angry about his wife and mother-in-law, and started to help his baby son to build a good habit. After his wife and mother-in-law went to sleep, he started to train his son. He wrapped his son carefully using a blanket and put him into garage, then the daddy sneaked out, closed the door, watched out his son silently, the baby kept crying about 15 minutes and took a break then started cry again, and the daddy noticed that the baby boy is smart, if he heard some noise, he knew somebody was coming, then he started crying right away. “It is really tough to let my son get rid of the bad habit.” The daddy said.

Parenting is very challenge especially for the first time parents. It is very important to teach a child good habits in order to make it easier for parents as well for the child. It can be overwhelming and frustrating at times to be a new parent but teaching children good habits at a young age in the end can be extremely rewarding and will definitely help them in the future.

For a lot of successful people, part of their success is attributed to the goal they have a strong willing to pursue, but a larger portion goes to the habits they developed from early childhood. Helping children to form a good habit of being disciplined to adhere to the task at hand until finish it is crucial for education. There is no doubt that parents want to see children growing up with good habits. The younger the child, the more opening their minds will be and thus easier to inculcate good habits in them. That’s why it is very important to start early. Here we suggest some of the really important habits that should be taught early.

Eating Habits

Learning good eating habits early leads to lifelong health and wellness.

Babies need regular feeding

Simply getting a baby on some type of a schedule is the most important step to forming good eating habits. Infants need to have a consistent eating schedule tailoring to their ages.

Preschoolers need variety in food

The preschool years are an important time to instill healthy habits in children including good eating patterns. Parents may face many feeding obstacles as their children reach 2 years old, because a child’s appetite may decrease as growth slows, outside influences, such as from television or other children start to impact a child’s food choices. Despite these challenges, parents need to pay close attention to their children’s eating behaviors and teach them to eat healthy.

Many things parents can do to help their children develop good eating habits, starting with the gradual introduction of a variety of foods. Give children one new healthy food at a time and remember that it may take many times before children accept the food. Offer children small amounts of new foods, too much on the plate can overwhelm. By offering a variety of food choices, sticking to mealtime and snack routines, and being a good role model, parents can help children develop good eating habits that will last a lifelong time.

Sleeping Habits

Healthy sleeping habits act an essential role for development in young children. If a child gets enough good sleep he or she will be more likely to be alert and ready to learn new skills.

Institute a schedule for babies

New parents frequently struggle with babies’ sleep issues. It is a fact that most infants typically do not sleep through the night, they wake up for nightly feedings. It is important to start early and get the child on a schedule, routine. It can be difficult at first but if parents start the process when they are young then it will be much easier to keep them on a timetable when the children get older.

Infants need to have a consistent eating and sleeping schedule. As early as possible, try to get the infant to sleep less during the day and more at night. If parents can schedule the majority of their infant’s sleep time at night then will probably be a happier parent. Usually when a baby is approximately 3-4 months old, they can have some rice cereal before bedtime which will help them stay full for longer periods of time, so they can sleep longer and eventually being able to sleep through the night.

Teaching the child to fall asleep on their own is a big issue for many parents. Starting young is the best way to teach a baby how to go to sleep on their own. For infants if they are just starting to fall asleep try putting them in their bed before they are actually asleep. It might be hard at first to get them used to lying in their bed instead of in parents’ arms. If they cry a little that is fine, just make sure they are comfortable and in the proper sleeping position. Babies who can fall asleep on their own have an easier time of soothing themselves back to sleep if they wake up in the night. If the infant wakes up in the night respond to him, but try to let him put himself back to sleep. Otherwise, they will come to expect parents’ comfort and rely on that every night. A child who can put himself back to sleep will have healthier sleeping habits and well rested parents.

Bed Time for Toddlers

Toddlers are a different story. If a toddler has often been on a chaotic sleep schedule and has never followed a bedtime routine then the parents are in for a big challenge. It is much more difficult to change bad habits formed at an early age. In order to create a healthy bedtime routine for a child, begin a set bedtime and stick to it. A good time to put young children to bed is between 8:00 pm and 9:00 pm depending on their nap times. An example of a good bedtime routine is something like a story before bed, a soothing bath to calm the child and quiet time with mom and dad; Make sure do the exact same thing every night so the child knows this is what should do to get ready for bed. Consistency is extremely important; the child will train his or her body to react to the activity, therefore preparing for “sleep mode.” It’s parents’ duty to teach them the ‘Early to bed, early to rise’ principle.

A constant sleep schedule, a normal bedtime routine and set times for nap will help to establish good sleeping habits early in life. Make sure the children are getting the proper sleep no matter what their age. For teenagers, no exception, need sleep for proper development and to function properly at school.

Exercising Habits

Teach the kids the importance of exercise at an early age. Start with taking them for a walk and teach them simple exercises. Of course, parents need to exercise to set a good role model as well. Regular exercise is very important for children to stay healthy. Parents have a great opportunity to harness the natural energy children have and instill lifelong habits that will keep them active as they grow older.

Reading Habits

In order to be successful, a fair amount of communication and language skills are required. It’s essential that a person cultivates reading habits as a child, in starting early, does not just help improve one’s vocabulary, it also helps people become more knowledgeable, which leads to development of many skills. Bring the kids to libraries regularly, which help to form children’s reading habits. In addition, parents must set good examples for their children. It is better to set reading at home as a routine for all family members.

As parents, we are the first and most important teachers of our children. So we should help our children to develop these important habits that will help them grow mentally, socially, emotionally, and physically.