Good Day Sunshine, or does your kid need a lifestyle improvement? If this little Beatles song inspires you to go outside and simply live life under the spring Sun rays, go for it! Children should spend 4-6 hours outside. Even if you’re taking good care of your little one, there’s always room for a lifestyle improvement, right? Read these suggestions I have for you.

Yes, every kid absolutely needs routines! At least morning and evening routine and a little bit of chores activities. Why? Not only routines make all the information and obligations life brings easier to process, but they make life comfortable too. For instance, when bedtime is expected at a certain time, after certain activities, there are is time for tantrums. There’s more time for cuddling, learning and having fun.

Of course, you shouldn’t structure the whole day for your little one. You should also set a time every day for independent play and let him choose the activities. Letting your kid participate in routines and do chores is great for building confidence and encouraging independence. Getting ready by himself in the morning, choosing a book at bedtime or helping you clean after lunch – these all are activities in which children can either participate with your help or do on their own.

Healthy food.

Teaching kids about healthy foods and nutrition is one of the most important things to do at an early age. Parents struggle a lot because of commercials, other kid’s snacks at the playground and the yummiest designs on junk food. Sadly, junk food is part of our everyday lives, and we have no power over that. But we must carefully think about what we serve on the little plates.

If you want to help your kid build a healthy relationship with food, then start young and don’t offer treats as snacks. Our main snack is usually a fruit of choice, a smoothie or some healthy cookies that we made together. After that, if the kid wants, he can have whatever. But usually, the stomach is full! Here’s an article where you can read a little bit more about what exactly should you serve to your kids daily for an instant lifestyle improvement.

Nature calls.

The easiest lifestyle improvement to adopt sure is taking your kid outside more often. Fresh air, vitamin D and moving around are of great importance for health. Exploring and sensory activities in fresh air grow synapses and hormones of happiness like crazy, and there’s never a place for boredom.

It is also one of the best ways to refresh the over-stimulated mind that absorbs things like crazy while learning more about nature and socializing at the same time.

Learning is natural.

Give your kids all the knowledge you have so that they could change the world! Never answer their questions with “I’ll tell you when you’re older” or “You’re too young to understand”. That can only result in killing the natural love for learning. You loved it when they first experienced solid food, and you were grateful once they started crawling and beyond happy when you saw them walking for the first time.

They learned to talk, to make friends, and you were there, feeling amazing, loving the process. How come you shut them down when they want to continue learning more? Why women give birth, but not men? What’s the Latin name for the Bird of paradise flower? How does electricity work? These are the questions I answer to my son daily.

I don’t always know the true answer, but I always google it or find it in a book. Instead of killing their vibe and curiosity on a long path, answer all the questions in a kid-friendly tone. Confident kids are happy kids!

Train self-entertained kids.

Even if you only have one kid at this point (like me), you can, and you should help them learn how to entertain themselves. The world of imagination is a never-ending place waiting for children to explore. If we stand in their way of entering it alone, we close their minds to open wide and grow smarter. We also stay in the way of independence. Training our little ones to enjoy quiet time for half an hour or more will not only give us extra time but benefit them as well.

It’s all about the quiet time and the routine. On mornings that I am alone with my son, we have breakfast and learn first. Then we enjoy playing quietly on the floor for an hour before it’s time to go outside and burn off the energy. If we’re stuck inside, we will usually train our dog, do some fun exercises or stuck at home activities. After he’s had enough of me, I encourage some quiet time because I have grown-up stuff to finish.

He will grab his snack and either jump onto some of his favourite activity books, car toys, drawing drawer, blocks or ask to go outside to explore. Anyways, he has been really good at self-entertaining himself ever since it became a routine. Exact hours after playing with mom or dad or us together, he knows when it’s coming, and he’s expecting it. He’s also much more independent overall.

Here are some of my favourite boy’s essentials for the summer!

Let’s try to bring some lifestyle improvement to our little humans, shall we? 😉