Creating
Healthy
Routines for
You and Your
Family
Parent Resource
There are many benefits of eating healthy and being active for you and your family.
Healthy eating and physical activity can:
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improve overall health and promote healthy growth and development.
help friends and family to spend more time together.
build your child’s confidence, knowledge and skills.
enhance your child’s ability to learn.
help you and your family to keep a healthier body weight.
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Spend Time
Together
page 3
Build it Into
Every Day
page 7
3
Get Your
Child Ready
to Learn
page 10
2
Creating Healthy Routines for You and Your Family
1 Spend Time Together
Eating healthy and being physically
active together help you to:
• Create connections: the time spent with your
family helps to form bonds and gives you an
opportunity to talk about your day.
• Create routines and stability: children can
foresee what is coming next in the day.
• Role model healthy behaviours:
○○being active
○○decreasing screen time
○○eating less foods that are high in salt, sugar
and fat
○○having less sugary drinks
○○eating more vegetables and fruit
Make family time active time
• Be a role model: more active parents have more
active kids.
• Ask your child to help pick activities they would
like to try.
• As a family, set a physical activity goal, make a
plan and track your activity.
• Help your child develop basic movement skills
needed to be active later in life.
Active For Life: Developing Basic Movement Skills
• The ability to take part in different activities, games and sports with confidence stems from
being able to do basic movements such as throwing, running or catching – this is called
physical literacy.
• For example, if a child can catch, they can take part in baseball, basketball or other
activities that involve catching.
• A physically literate child is more likely to:
1. develop a positive attitude towards physical activity
2. feel confident to try new activities
3. continue to be active for life
Creating Healthy Routines for You and Your Family
3
Make Meal Time Family Time
Food Skills
Plan together:
• Children are more likely to eat meals they have
helped plan.
• Have children come up with healthy snack and
meal ideas using foods they enjoy.
Shop together:
• Remember, you decide which foods come
home from the grocery store. Buy foods that
you want your children to eat.
• Have children find a new vegetable or fruit that
your family can try.
Prepare together:
• Involving your family in preparing meals can
help them to develop healthy eating habits
while learning new food skills.
Eat together:
• Aim to eat together as a
family as much as possible
without distractions
(e.g. away from the
television).
• Involve the whole family
in setting the table and
cleaning up.
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Creating Healthy Routines for You and Your Family
Food skills are a set of necessary skills to
prepare safe, nutritious food.
They include:
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knowledge (e.g. label reading)
planning (e.g. budgeting)
conceptualizing (e.g. adjusting recipes)
mechanical techniques (e.g. chopping)
food perception (e.g. texture, taste)
Food Skills for All Ages
Depending on the age of your child, here are some skills that you can practice doing
together.
Age
Food Skill
3-4 Year olds
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4-6 Year olds
• Measure, combine and stir ingredients together.
• Slice soft cooked vegetables, soft fruit, cheese or tofu with a plastic knife.
6-8 Year olds
• Safely use simple kitchen equipment (grater, toaster, blender or can
opener).
• Make a simple whole wheat tortilla wrap.
• Invent a fruit salad or smoothie recipe.
• Help make a simple breakfast.
8-12 Year olds
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Using a knife with easy to cut foods.
Use the microwave with your help.
Make their own lunch.
Make a fresh vegetable or fruit platter.
Use the stove with supervision to make basic recipes (e.g. omelette or
grilled cheese sandwich).
13-18 Year olds
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Pack their own lunch for school.
Go through flyers together to create a grocery list.
Involve them in food budgeting.
When shopping, help them to make healthier choices by reading nutrition
facts labels.
Remove shells from hard boiled eggs.
Pour from a small pitcher or measuring cup.
Help make a simple sandwich or pizza with pre-assembled ingredients.
Take a certain number of carrots or whole wheat bagels out of a bag.
Creating Healthy Routines for You and Your Family
5
Play With Your Child
Playing with your child is a great way to:
• spend time together.
• learn healthy eating skills.
• get physical activity while having fun.
It is important to provide opportunities for both
structured and unstructured play.
Examples of:
Unstructured Play
Structured Play
Healthy Eating
• using utensils to prepare
plastic food
• playing market and selling
plastic foods
• attending a cooking class
• selecting a recipe to make
together
Physical Activity
• playground activities
• walking to school
• bike riding
• team sports
• dance class
• swim lessons
Leadership
and group
skills
Creativity
Benefits of
unstructured
play
Healthy child
development
Strong
parent
bonds
Imagination
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Creating Healthy Routines for You and Your Family
2 Build it Into Every Day
Food Guide Servings
Healthy Eating
Guidelines
• Eating Well with Canada’s
Food Guide describes
what amount of food
people need and what
type of food is part of
healthy eating.
• Canada’s Food Guide
includes foods from each
of the four food groups:
vegetables and fruit,
grain products, milk and
alternatives, and meat and
alternatives.
What Is A Food Guide Serving?
Food Group
Serving Size
Vegetables and Fruit
• ½ cup of fresh, frozen or canned vegetables
and fruit
• 1 piece of fruit
Grain Products
• 1 slice of whole wheat bread
• ¾ cup hot cereal
• 30 grams of cold cereal
Milk and Alternatives
• 1 cup of milk 1% or 2% M.F. (Milk Fat)
• ¾ cup of low-fat yogurt
Meat and Alternatives
• 2 eggs
• 2.5 ounces cooked fish, shellfish, poultry, or
lean meat
Creating Healthy Routines for You and Your Family
7
Physical Activity Guidelines
According to the Canadian Physical Activity
Guidelines, children ages 5-11 and youth ages
12-17 need at least 60 minutes of moderate to
vigorous physical activity each day.
• Moderate intensity activity will cause you to
sweat a little and breathe harder.
○○Examples include: brisk walking, playground
activities, biking and skating.
• Vigorous intensity activity will cause you to
sweat and be out of breath.
○○Examples include: running, swimming,
rollerblading and cross-country skiing.
Building healthy
eating and physical
activity into
everyday routines
can help your family
achieve these
guidelines.
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Build Physical Activity Into
Every Day:
• Walk or wheel to and from the places you need
to go.
• Play music and dance.
• Try to play outside with your child every day.
• Go for a family walk after dinner and discover
nature.
• Go for a family bike ride to the park.
Reduce Sedentary Time :
• Interrupt long car trips with stretching and
physical activity.
• Limit screen time to less than 2 hours per day.
○○Encourage your child to play actively instead
of using screen based devices.
○○Remove TVs from your child’s bedroom.
Creating Healthy Routines for You and Your Family
Make Vegetables And Fruit Part
Of Your Family’s Day
Here are some ways to help your family eat the
recommended number of vegetables and fruit:
• Ask your children:
○○You decide which healthy foods to offer. Let
your children decide which of these foods
they will eat and how much.
• Keep mealtimes free of pressure:
○○Help children create positive and healthy
eating habits by not using food as a reward or
punishment.
○○It can take at least 10 times before they will
try a food and like it.
○○Offer new foods on different days, at different
meals and in different recipes.
• Prepare one family meal:
○○Making one meal for the family will create less
stress for the family member who is making
the meal. This also allows you to role model
eating a healthy meal to your children.
• Eat at regular times:
○○Offer meals and 2-3 snacks at regular times
each day.
• Make food exciting to eat:
○○Give foods funny names such as “X-ray Vision
Carrots.”
○○Serve food in funny ways (e.g. cut vegetables/
fruit into fun shapes with cookie cutters or
make fruit kabobs).
○○Have children “eat the rainbow” by eating
vegetables and fruit of different colours
throughout the day.
• Prepare grab and go options:
○○Keep washed and cut up vegetables in the
fridge at eye level for a quick snack.
○○Canned or frozen vegetables are quick and
easy, so stock up.
○○Buy precut vegetables and salad mixes for
quick and easy additions to any meal.
Creating Healthy Routines for You and Your Family
9
3 Get Your Child
Ready To Learn
Eating healthy, being active and getting enough
sleep can help your child to learn by helping them
to be settled and attentive.
Get Enough Sleep:
• A happy bedtime routine combines what both
the parent and child need. Here are some
examples:
○○Some foods or drinks may make it more
difficult for your child to sleep (e.g. those high
in sugar or caffeine).
○○Try to use the time before bed to do a
calming activity.
○○Try to give your child notice when bedtime is
coming up.
○○Tucking your child into bed helps him/her
feel secure.
○○It is important for a child’s bedroom to be a
place that they can enjoy spending time in
and not a place for discipline.
What is Enough Sleep?
• Children (3-5 years old) need 10-12 hours of sleep.
• Children (5-13 years old) need 9-11 hours of sleep.
• Youth (14-17 years old) need 8 -10 hours of sleep.
Try to have the same bed and wake-up time
every day.
Fuel Up for the School Day!
To help your child have energy to learn, it is
important to have a healthy breakfast, lunch and
snacks.
What to include in snacks/meals?:
• Aim for snacks that have foods from at least 2
of the 4 food groups in Canada’s Food Guide.
○○An example of a time saving snack is mini
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carrots and hummus.
• Aim for breakfast and lunch to have foods from
at least 3 of the 4 food groups in Canada’s Food
Guide.
○○An example of a time saving breakfast/
lunch is a homemade sandwich or wrap with
vegetables.
Other tips to try:
• Prepare meals/snacks ahead of time with your
children.
• Allow time for your children to eat breakfast.
• Have children try new foods at home before
sending them to school.
• When packing drinks, choose healthier options
such as water or milk. Sugary drinks, such as
pop or juice, are the main source of added
sugar in the daily diet of children. Help your
family make healthier drink choices by:
○○Role modeling for your children by choosing
water first.
○○Replacing sugary drinks in the fridge with a
pitcher of water.
○○Packing reusable water bottles that children
can refill at school.
○○Encouraging your family to eat their fruit and
vegetables instead of drinking juice.
Build Physical Activity Around
the School Day:
• Walking to and from school will help prepare
your child to learn during the day.
• Playing after school, especially outdoors, can be
a good way for kids to re-focus for homework
or other evening activities.
• Taking short physical activity breaks during
homework time such as stretching or taking
the dog for a walk.
Creating Healthy Routines for You and Your Family
Being active, eating healthy,
and getting enough sleep
are important for people of
all ages and abilities. Follow
up with your health care
provider if you have specific
needs and develop a routine
that works for you.
Creating Healthy Routines for You and Your Family
11
DURHAM
REGION
HEALTH
DEPARTMENT
Nov 2016 - 01
Durham Health Connection Line
905-666-6241 or 1-800-841-2729
durham.ca
If you require this information in an accessible format, contact 1-800-841-2729.