When your children reach adolescence, you need to make sure that you are upping what you are teaching them about the world. It won’t be long before they have headed into the world of adulthood themselves, and you need to make sure that they are ready in as many regards as possible. One area that you need to consider is that of your teen’s health and wellbeing. Here are some of the things you should be teaching them.
Treatment and Consent
Every time that you have taken your child to the doctor’s or for some sort of treatment before, you have given your permission as a parent for them to undergo whatever procedure it might be. However, the ages of 16 and 17 offer some more options for your teenagers, and they deserve to know what their options are.
This is known as Gillick competence, and it allows them to make decisions about their healthcare. This is a big step in caring for themselves, and it is something that you should encourage them to take care of. Consent is a very important lesson to teach your children and it can touch all areas of their life – including the medical treatments they receive.
Food and Nutrition
If your children do not yet know how to cook, then this is a good age to teach them. They might be preparing to go off to university or college soon and they might be more responsible for looking after their own health here. Making sure that they can cook healthy and nutritious meals is going to be key here.
Even if they do not take to cooking, there are some lessons that you can teach them in terms of the choices they should be making with their food. There will always be a good choice to make, and you should try to steer them away from a life of junk food as best as you can. If they do look like they might enjoy cooking, you could even ask them to take over cooking one night a week. It can be a great way to give them a little more responsibility in your home.
Encourage Exercise
You need to make sure that your teens are getting enough exercise. If they are motivated to go play their favourite sports or go out with their friends for an activity, then great! You will have very little work to do on your teen’s health!
However, this can also be an age at which your children slow down. They might have mounting pressure from schoolwork that leaves them with little free time. It is also not quite as easy to pack them in the car for something fun as it used to be. Therefore, you need to think about how you can best engage them, so they are able to keep up a love of exercise and fitness. Why not check with your local gym to see what the lower age limit might be? Your teen might be old enough to join, and this will allow them to take control of their fitness in new ways.
Adolescence is a tough time for everyone, so you need to make you are giving all the support to your children that you can. Take the time to work out how to best motivate them, and make sure you speak to them to get their input too. Together, you will hopefully be able to work out a way that they will be able to develop a good relationship with their health and wellbeing that will last for their whole lives. What do you think of our tips about your teen’s health? Let us know in the comments below!
