Protecting and promoting the health of their child is a top priority for parents. But the day comes when you are no longer responsible for it, but your child has to take on this role himself. It is therefore important that the child grows into a health-conscious adult. Parents must therefore provide an active health education.
Health and quality of life
Health is not everything in life, but without health everything is nothing. This is a well-known saying. How healthy a person is therefore has a major impact on their quality of life. Anyone who has ever had severe pain, felt weak or dizzy with the flu, or had similar health problems, can certainly understand this.
It should be a matter of course for all parents to promote their child’s health right from the start. Children in particular find it difficult to give up or limit their usual habits due to an invisible virus. It is also important that the children learn how to deal with the topic correctly. The effects of misconduct at a young age often only become noticeable at an advanced age, but can then no longer be reversed. The corona pandemic is not only a major challenge for parents, it is also a good starting point to sharpen your awareness of medical contexts.
Parents have to be role models
You must give your child’s health the highest priority right from the start. You have to protect your child from accidents, ensure their healthy diet, ensure sufficient exercise in everyday life and prevent trauma or excessive stress. This is one of many reasons caring for children is such a challenge. The course for a healthy life is set in the first few years. Mistakes that parents now make can have a negative impact on the quality of life of their child forever.
So what parents should be aware of is that children learn primarily through imitation. This can affect many aspects of life that ultimately affect health:
- unhealthy diet
- increased media consumption
- little physical activity
Health Awareness Studies
Numerous studies have shown that there is a direct connection between the health awareness of parents and that of their children. Children do more sport when their parents do sport regularly. Health awareness tends to be higher in children if they come from “educated” families. Families with a “better” education often have more money to spend on healthy eating. Low-income families often lack the financial and time resources to actively strive for a healthy life.
According to this, people with higher education live longer on average, up to twelve years longer than people who did not attend primary school or only attended one. The researchers see possible reasons for this in
- less stress from financial and future worries.
- more resources for health promotion.
- more attention to health issues.
- social influencing factors.
It is the job of parents to teach their children how to deal responsibly with their physical and mental health. At the same time, they have to give them the knowledge about wellness and tools to lead a healthy life. For the parents, health education means, in the first step, demonstrating health awareness to the child. In the second step, it is then important to explain the individual topics to him. In the third step, the child has to try them out for themselves. Lastly, it’s important that these healthy habits become routine. Because what is completely normal for the child from the beginning, it will most likely keep it for life and teach it to its own children again one day.
