Healthy, Natural-Minded Tips for Parents
At Hormel Foods, we know the challenge of raising natural-minded children in the midst of a hectic life. Below we divulge some useful, creative tips that can help you and your family experience a natural balance while incorporating fitness, achieving good nutrition and appreciating the environment.
Fun & Fit
Encourage your kids to go outdoors, get active and have fun in nature with these helpful tips.
- Explore nature: Make it a point to get outside with your family at least once a week, preferably more often. On weekends, set aside some leisure time to explore nearby trails, nature institutes and/or regional parks.
- Ditch the car: When possible, walk to the store, parks and school.
- Free up for fitness: During the summer months, set a family exercise schedule, such as laps around the local high school track after work, a walk around the block or basketball on the driveway. Making fitness a priority will set a positive example for your children and teach them about the benefits of an active lifestyle.
- Play together: Take advantage of free time with the family by throwing around a tennis ball at a park with the family dog, collecting rocks and shells at the beach or hitting balls at the local batting cage.
Nutrition Notes
Help your children consume natural and nutritious foods by incorporating these practices into your everyday routine.
- Go all natural: Bring your family meals back to basics by using natural products, including sandwich meats with no preservatives, 100 percent natural fruit juices and all natural cereal.
- Grab a rainbow: Ask your children to help pick a rainbow of fresh fruits and vegetables at the grocery store or farmer's market-such as broccoli, peaches, watermelon and blueberries-to ensure a diet rich in vitamins and minerals.
- Dump the junk: Fill the shopping cart with healthy products and snacks, such as pre-cut fruits and vegetables, whole-grain crackers, raisins and low-fat yogurt instead of cookies and chips.
- Read the label: Teach your children about nutrition by having them look for products that are trans-fat free, low carbohydrates and low sugar based on ingredients on nutrition facts panels.
Go Green!
Teach your kids to appreciate nature and protect and preserve the environment by following these suggestions.
- Recycle with purpose: Work with your children to create a collage of nature cut-outs from magazines to decorate a container specifically for recyclables. This will help get them excited about recycling.
- Nurture nature: Plant a small garden in the backyard or in a window box. Involve your children in every step.
- Beckon the birds: Build a birdhouse as a family activity and hang it near a window so everyone can see when birds visit.
- Grab the greens: Encourage your children to decorate their own cloth bag to take to the grocery store to promote paper or plastic conservation.
- Let in light: Conserve energy by opening a window or shade to let natural light shine in or teaching your children to turn off lights when leaving the room.
