Amidst this pandemic, children are also suffering because they cannot freely go out and enjoy their lives in the outside world. This affects their mental health, and when children are susceptible to mental health issues, they can develop lower immunity systems. So, the parents need to take extra care of the children during this challenging time because children can be easily affected by the virus at the moment. So what can you do to keep your child healthy both physically as well as mentally? Here are some tips from reputed children’s doctor Honolulu that can help you improve the health of your child:
1. Encourage your child to play household games.
Presently, most children spend their time on computers, laptops, and gaming consoles. But for children who are below the age of 10, gaming continuously can affect their mental health. It can also affect the mind, cause sleeplessness, irritation, disturbance during sleep, lack of appetite, and eyes issues. So you should make sure that your children are playing household games. The best way to do so is to play along with them and utilize your free time for creative activities like drawing, cooking, and gardening.
2. Avoid junk food and sweet candies.
At this point, you need to be more careful about allowing your children to have junk food. Ordering pizzas and other snacks should be avoided because they can contain harmful bacteria and viruses that can affect children with lower immunity systems. Instead, try cooking along with your children and provide them with homemade snacks. This way, you can also engage them in household chores and help them utilize that time in a better way. They should stop drinking sweet drinks and eat sweet treats because that can lead to childhood obesity and other illnesses, as the Children’s Doctors Hawaii state. Sweet food can also cause gastrointestinal issues in young children and also affect their teeth and bone structure. Instead, you can try making desserts and sweet dishes at home that can be stored properly.
3. Please encourage them to adopt personal hygiene norms.
Presently, personal hygiene has become very important for basic survival, and your children will need to adopt them as soon as possible. This will help them in the future because the virus will stay for a long time, and the need for improving personal hygiene will remain the same. Ensure that they wash their hands before the meals and make it a habit of not touching their faces. You should teach them to cover themselves when they are affected by cold and cough. Make them understand more about hand washes and hand sanitizers so that they can take better care of themselves even in your absence.
4. Don’t overdo cleaning and sanitization.
Another issue that has erupted after the pandemic is the overuse of cleaning products. You must keep yourself clean and stay in a hygienic environment, but you should also be able to distinguish between how much chemical your cleaner has and how much you should use. So it would help if you did not use heavy-duty cleaners in your home because the chemicals can indirectly affect your children’s health. Similarly, washing their clothes with heavy-duty chemical cleaners can also cause skin irritation. Even some sanitizers and hand washes can be quite harmful to the skin of young children. Instead, you can try buying some cleaning products that are soft and mild on the skin and do not affect the health of human beings and pets alike.
These are some of the basic things you need to do to improve your child’s health at home. However, if you notice some symptoms of any sickness, you should immediately contact a reputed children’s doctor in Honolulu to get your child treated.
