High Five! Happy, Healthy Habits for Kids

These five suggestions are super-simple, yet they can have a real impact, especially if they lead to the next small step towards wellness:

1. Eat breakfast. Studies show that eating breakfast is not only associated with better nutrition, better concentration and performance in school, but also with less obesity, yet up to a of third of teenagers skip breakfast regularly. Make sure your kids get a nutritious breakfast before they leave home!

2. Teach them how to cook. Preparing simple healthy meals is a life skill—a gift that keeps on giving. Give your kids lessons in age-appropriate, healthy shopping and cooking. If you feel you’re in need of a few lessons yourself, you can learn together from books, Web sites and cooking shows.

3. Junk the junk food. While a little junk every once in a while probably won't hurt, having it available at home on a regular basis enables bad habits and teaches the wrong lesson. Make home a safe haven of healthy, nutritious food—take the soda, sweet drinks, fatty, sweet and salty, highly-processed snacks out, and replace them with readily accessible fruits, veggies, nuts and other healthy snacks.

4. Find out what they're serving at school. Unfortunately, the lunches served in many school cafeterias are not healthy. What’s more, competing with the school lunch are junk foods sold through vending machines and other sources. Find out what is served in your kids’ school, and if it doesn’t meet your standards, do something about it! Send your kids to school with a lunchbox packed with a nutritious lunch and healthy snacks. And speak up to affect school-wide changes. Visit TheLunchBox.org for menus, recipes, and all kinds of tools and resources to help parents and educators transform their school lunchrooms.

5. Get them moving! A third of our kids are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity has tripled in the past thirty years, and kids’ inactivity plays a big role. If your kids aren’t getting their daily dose of vigorous exercise, encourage them to join a sports team, pick a new hobby that will get them moving, and incorporate more movement in daily life. If school and other activities are close enough and weather and time permit, consider walking or cycling rather than driving. Choose family activities that are active and get the whole family exercising out in the fresh air!

Ayala Laufer-Cahana, M.D., is a pediatrician, mother, wife, entrepreneur, and founder of Herbal Water Inc.