How to Promote Health and Wellness at Home: Tips for Parents

  • Encourage a healthy diet with more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to limit sugary snacks and drinks.
  • Promote sun exposure by installing pyramid skylights to distribute sunlight evenly throughout a room optimally.
  • Make time for exercise with physical activities that the family enjoys together, such as walks, bike rides, or obstacle courses.
  • Encourage good sleep habits by creating a bedtime routine and avoiding screens before sleep.
  • Promote relaxation by encouraging downtime, mindfulness, and physical activity and creating a routine with designated relaxation time.

As a parent, you play a crucial role in your children’s health and wellness. With the pandemic still in our midst, creating a healthy and safe environment for your family at home is essential. But what exactly can you do to promote well-being at home? Here are some valuable tips on promoting health and wellness at home for your kids.

Encourage a Healthy Diet

One of the most important things you can do to promote health and wellness in your home is to encourage a healthy diet for your children. Encourage them to eat more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains instead of processed food.

Limit their intake of sugary drinks and snacks. One way to make healthy eating fun for kids is to involve them in meal planning and preparation. You can also try introducing new healthy recipes together as a family.

Promote Sun Exposure

Sunshine is crucial for children’s physical, mental, and emotional health. Not only does sunlight provide us with vitamin D, but it also boosts our mood and energy levels. With recent stay-at-home orders, children are spending more time indoors. However, you can enhance their experience at home by optimizing sunlight exposure by installing pyramid skylights.

These specialized skylights help to distribute sunlight evenly throughout a room, fostering an inviting and nurturing environment. Say goodbye to those dreary, dimly-lit spaces, and hello to an uplifting and healthy atmosphere! With just a few simple changes, we can ensure that our children receive the optimal amount of sunlight and thrive in the comfort of their own homes.

Make Time for Exercise

Regular exercise is essential for good health. Encourage your children to participate in physical activities they enjoy. Take family walks, bike rides, or set up obstacle courses in your backyard. You don’t necessarily need a gym membership to promote physical activity at home. Encouraging your children to move more instead of sitting in front of screens will help them stay active and healthy.

Encourage Good Sleep Habits

Getting enough sleep is essential for everyone’s physical and mental health, especially for children. Create a bedtime routine that works for your family, and stick to it as much as possible.

Encourage your children to avoid screens for at least an hour before bedtime and create a calm and comfortable environment for sleeping. Ensuring your children get enough sleep will help boost their immunity and overall well-being.

Promote Relaxation

Kids are prone to getting stressed out with academics, peer pressure, and extracurricular activities while trying to adjust during the pandemic. Therefore, it’s crucial to help kids learn how to relax at home. Here are some practical ways to promote relaxation at home for kids.

Encourage downtime and relaxation activities

Kids need downtime to recharge and relax after long periods of work or play. Encourage them to participate in activities like reading, coloring, or painting. These activities require minimal effort and promote peace and relaxation.

Promote physical activity and mindfulness

Physical activity can help kids relax by promoting the release of endorphins, the body’s natural feel-good chemicals. Encourage activities like yoga, jogging, or walking outside, as exercise can be a form of mindful meditation.

Create a routine

Routines can help kids feel stable and secure. Creating a daily routine with a designated relaxation time can help promote a sense of calmness and predictability. This routine can be as simple as including ten minutes of relaxation before bed.

Avoid over-scheduling

In today’s world, kids often have jam-packed schedules, from school to extracurricular activities. It’s crucial to ensure that there’s always enough downtime built into their programs. Lack of rest and over-scheduling lead to stress and anxiety, making it harder for kids to relax.

The Bottom Line

Promoting health and wellness in your home is essential for your and your children’s well-being. By encouraging a healthy diet, regular exercise, good sleep habits, relaxation, and leading by example, you can create a healthier and happier environment for your family. These tips can help build healthy habits that will benefit your children for years. So, start today and prioritize health and wellness in your home.

My Zach Bryan Shirt

It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that I actually heard of Zach Bryan. I remember my cousin playing the Heading South YouTube video while we were camping. I liked what I heard, wrote down his name and finished off the camping trip telling the kids the greatest story of Biggie and Tupac, being ceremoniously stalked by racoons, and lots and lots of swimming.

When I got back home I looked up Zach and discovered a treasure trove of songs put out by him and each and every one was fantastic. I could probably have a post for each of his songs, to me, they are that good. His lyrics speak to me and the lofi production of the tracks, that just adds to much to them all! Back in the day I would spend hours upon hours searching Napster, Kazaa, and Limewire for acoustic versions of songs and I downloaded some horrible quality tracks, but they were amazing, like where else would I had heard Garth Brooks playing Piano Man, or Jason Mraz busting out a verse from Bell Biv Devo’s Poison? So the quality of Zach’s sound was music to my ears.

With two albums under his belt a couple EPs, and a smorgasbord of unreleased songs, covers, and demos, there was so much to digest, and then not much after that he drops a massive 34 track album, American Heartbreak.

With American Heartbreak released and digging through everything YouTube and Soundcloud had to offer I found that I had just kept Zach on repeat pretty much all the time. I would sprinkle in some Tyler Childers or Morgan Wade to mix it up, but I had this man’s discography on rotation.

Zach’s guitar playing isn’t Hendrix level or anything spectacular to be honest (I’d like to love my lady long and hard, And lay down lines of laymеn guitar), it’s his lyrics. His words are relatable for me in my life. His stories are vivid and paint a picture in my mind that no other songwriter can do. Let’s not forget to mention that singing along to his songs is just as fantastic. His cadence, vocal tone, and rhythm just fit perfectly with one another.

In May 2022, my wife and I were able to attend the Country Music Fest in Chesterfield, MO. There were plenty of storms that day as well as a few tornado sirens, so I wasn’t sure if the show would be cancelled or not. The powers that be ultimately cancelled Charles Wesley Godwin’s set but Zach was able to perform and it was an incredible, muddy mess. I even got a Zach Lane Bryan t-shirt that I have already worn so much that it is fading faster than a 68 fastback getting scrapped for parts. It’s currently my favorite shirt, that is until I put on my All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster shirt.

Zach Bryan is a songwriter like no other. Dropping albums, EP’s, unreleased songs, and still doing everything he can to hate on Ticketmaster, I just can’t complain at all.

St. Louis Dad 2022 Wrap Up

For the last few years I have been creating end of the year “wrap up” posts with some lists of my favorite things from the year. This year will be no different as I definitely had an interesting year. It was a year filled with a lot of emotion and struggle, but also a lot of positive! Looking back it is amazing to see the struggle, but also see the Keep on reading to see some of the highlights from my year and what’s still to come!

One new thing I started this year was to document as much of the media I consumed over the course of the year. So I created a media log. The list is pretty extensive and shows that I watch A LOT of movies. So feel free to take a look at 2022’s Media Log.

New Music by Me!

This year I put some work into my online artist portfolio site MissouriMobileProductions.com. 2022 is MMP’s 20th anniversary and to celebrate I released two new experimental instrumental hip-hop albums. The first was Dr. Williams – JELLY-Fi released back on June 18th (my mom’s bday) and the second was released on November 11th (11/11) entitled Richie Williams – The Long Way to Mars EP.

I also put in a lot of work illustrating new projects for almost 70 new clients. This next year I hope to highlight all of the stories I have illustrated and also put out a few more of my own!

Jason Beware 3

Another major project that I spearheaded this year was the final installment of Jason Beware. We couldn’t leave with a cliffhanger, so I spent the first part of the year writing and then this summer we filmed the final film in the Jason Beware series. It was a lot of fun working with the kids again. I think we made ourselves a fun little series and I cannot wait to see what we come up with next.

We Bought a House!

It was emotional, it was painful, but we made it happen. We are also finally free from an emotional abusive landlord that we never want to hear or see ever again. Good riddance!

We Got a New Puppy!

This little horse (photo right) is a rescue from downtown St. Louis. Little guy was chained up in the backyard of an abandoned house. So we rescued him and now him and our other goofball are best buddies!

Tales from a 6th Grader

That’s right, we now have a 6th grader this year. It has been a little bit of a challenge learning new routines and practices but we’re getting by fairly well. She’s excited about Art Club, Images, and all of the fun things middle school offers!

My little 6th grader is really getting into music. She got her first record player for Christmas and watching her flip through vinyl is a new favorite past time. Here are her top 5 songs of 2022!

I Joined TikTok!

Around Halloween 2021 I joined TikTok as DadSTL. I made a couple videos, but over 2022 I posted even more. So if you’re there, give me a follow! I am a big fan of the stand-up comedy crowd work videos, so feel free to give me a follow and send me some funny stuff!

I was a little against TikTok at first, but I have warmed up to it and discovered that it can be a fun and unique way to create content. Just don’t get addicted to the scroll!

Spotify 2022 Wrapped

I don’t always listen to Spotify but I have been a bit more lately. I usually am listening to my own collection or Pandora. This year I have been diving more into some indie country and holy cow there is a lot of good stuff out there that I had not heard. Compared to last year my wrapped list is completely different. I do love how Spotify will share some of your stats in fun ways. Here are some of my highlights!

Spotify is a great way to discovery new music. I don’t think I would have ever found Morgan Wade without it. Also, Zach Bryan just released his Live from Red Rock album as a Christmas present to the world, and of course he titled it, All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live from Red Rock). Perfect!

Zach Bryan also provided me one of the greatest Twitter moments I have ever had in my life. He quote tweeted one of my tweets and I had been on that Ninth Cloud ever since.

My Top 9 on Instagram

Instagram, I love you but I also hate you sometimes. I don’t understand your algorithm but I do like your layout and filters, so I still use you, but not as often as I probably should. Here are the top nine photos of 2022! Give me a follow and see what’s in store for 2023!

My 2022 Favorites

Here are some more of my favorite things from 2022, some of these were not released in 2022 but possibly my first viewing experience! There’s so much more I could have included, just because they weren’t does not mean that I didn’t enjoy whatever it was.

2023 and Beyond

2022 was a year of getting back to my old self. I was finally able to cut ties to a lot of emotional baggage and I feel more free than ever and 2023 will be even better! One goal I have for 2023 is to redesign StLouisDad.com. I really like the format I have going here but I think things could be reorganized a little better. This was also a goal last year, but I kind of got wrapped up in some other things. A redesign may still be at the bottom of my list, but I will attempt to get it done. I promise! I also am planning on producing more episodes of Dad v Son – The Chess Son as well as more content for TikTok and my other channels. I even have an amazing idea that I will be unleashing around this time in 2023. It will be very special and possibly one of the coolest things I will work on through-out the year. I would tell you more but than I don’t want to spoil the surprise!

Along with my secret project, I am also hoping to start writing my next short film. I have an idea and a general outline, but I need to write the screenplay and start planning the production. It will be my most ambitious project to date, so hopefully things fall right into place this coming year!

Another goal I have for the 2023 year is to hit my fitness goals. This coming year I hope to do at least (if not more) 100 miles of hiking, 300 miles of riding my bike, and 1000 miles of traveling. I may not hit these goals but it’s worth a shot to at least make them my goals. I only did around 20 miles of hiking total this past year, I got to pump those numbers up!

This next year is going to be something great. It’s my last year of my 30’s, and I am excited to this next chapter in my life. Each year seems to be going by faster and faster, so I am needing to savor this life I got going and help put some positivity into this world the best ways that I can.

See ya 2022, I’m ready for the year of Air Jordan, 23. Let’s do this!

Supporting Your Child in Team Sports

If your children are athletic then the most important thing that you can offer them aside from an orange after a game is support. Children of all ages need to feel that their parents support them and love them and athletics can get pretty rowdy even for Children’s Games. For anything, children need the most support from their parents but when it comes to sports they need to know that no matter whether they win, lose or draw you are going to still be there and still be proud of them for their efforts. 

We have all seen the detriment that can happen if a child has a pushy parent in the stands on game day, and nobody wants to be that kind of a parent who bases their child’s emotional happiness on whether or not they win or game. Don’t be that parent if you can avoid it. You can prepare yourself with dugout cards and oranges and towels and all of their equipment, but the best thing you can do to prepare yourself as a parent is to make sure that you are ready for any outcome and make sure your children see that you are happy for them no matter what. So here are some of the things that you can do to support your children during sports.

Image source: Pexels

  • Provide emotional support. You have to remember that your child is going to be watching you very carefully. If you don’t look happy at the end of their sports game, they’re going to believe that you no longer have the same amount of love for them because they weren’t good enough. Children need to know that no matter what the outcome to anything that they do they will always be good enough for you. Kids just want their parents to be proud of them and to love them, and it’s up to you to make sure that you are displaying that to your child.
  • Emphasize effort over outcome. While you are watching your children play sports you should make sure that you are paying attention to the effort that they put in. When you do this, your pride comes away from whether they win or lose the game and stays at their performance in general. If you’re watching your child try really hard to win, then it doesn’t matter what the outcome is at all. You have to do everything that you can to show them that you are proud of them regardless. Children base a lot of their emotional well being on whether or not their parents are proud of them, and even when you don’t intend to be common you can come off as disappointed. You are seeing your child go for the very best effort, So make sure they know you are proud of them.
  • Foster independence. When it comes to putting together dugout cards then you should absolutely be involved in your child support, but where you can push for independence. If they want to go off and be with their friends, let them. When you drop them off to practice, go and sit in the car so you are not watching the practice. Unless they ask you to. Children should be encouraged, but not hovered over and independence is something you should definitely be ensuring your children feel when you leave them at their games.
  • Check in on their happiness. Some kids only engage in sports because I think that’s what their parents want. Make sure that your children are happy to be involved in the sports that they are in because this way you can ensure that you Foster an open relationship with your children. They deserve to feel heard and seen, and if they’re unhappy they should be able to tell you.