Given the importance for children to acquire certain habits before reaching adolescence, today we remind you of the most important ones and encourage you to strengthen them.
Children grow up very quickly and time flies without us realizing it. And when we do, they are already teenagers! But we have to keep in mind that whatever happens before that moment will determine how they get through this new stage full of changes. For this reason, it is important that before puberty children acquire certain habits to maintain them over time. Read on to learn the habits your child needs to build before adolescence.
As your child grows, he gradually stops sharing time with his parents and the influence of his elders is reduced considerably. He It is therefore important to consolidate the bases beforehand so that, today and in the future, the teachings of the family will endure. This will allow them to develop strong, positive bonds, both inside and outside the home, without parents needing to be present to remind them how to behave.
If your little one is approaching this stage, don’t forget to put into practice the advice we bring you in the following article. You will see that they will be very positive for him.
What habits should children acquire before adolescence?
Customs maintained in the home serve not only to improve family life, but also to instil in young people a sense of responsibility. Therefore, we are going to see below what are these habits that you must consolidate in your children before they become teenagers.
1. Set aside time each day to talk
If, since our children were very small, we spend time chatting with them every day, when they reach adolescence, they will be less likely to isolate themselves than if we don’t.
We can use dinnertime as an excuse to chat as a family and reconnect. In general, this is the time of day when all members of the household gather around the table.
2. Lunch and dinner with the family
Lunch and dinner are ideal moments to share with the family because they promote the exchange of ideas and feelings. Therefore, establishing the habit of eating as a family, whenever possible, will result in many benefits for both children and adults.
If this ritual is practiced since they are small, when they reach adolescence, they will maintain this habit as something normal in their life. They will even tend to reproduce it with their friends outside the house.
3. Do not use the laptop at the table or in the car
Children are sponges and learn more by example than by their parents’ words. Therefore, if we don’t want them to spend lunch time looking at their mobile phones in the future, he is essential that we stop doing it now.
In general, the use of screens must be limited and not offered to children for more than one hour per day. Indeed, excessive hours of exposure or the consumption of content unsuitable for their age could have a negative impact on their physical and mental development.
4. Encourage him to know his tastes and interests
As children grow, their interests change, so it is important to know what they like and what they don’t like. This will allow us to continue to know them and not lose sight of them. Moreover, it will motivate them to discover what is really good for them and to differentiate it from what they are doing to please someone else.
5. Make physical contact with children
To establish a good emotional bond with our children, it is necessary to maintain physical contact. According to psychotherapist Virginia Satir, “we all need four hugs a day to survive, eight to sustain ourselves, and twelve to grow.”
When children become teenagers, they forget to show affection or tend to downplay its importance. But if, from an early age, we instill in them the habit of cuddling, then they will keep it with their loved ones.
Physical contact should never diminish, no matter how adult we are.
6. Play
A child needs to play to develop because it is one of the most rewarding activities of his life. The advantages of the game are countless, especially when you are little. For this reason, games and toys should never be missing at home, as well as playful moments shared with adults or with other children.
7. Maintain good hygiene habits
It is a basic and fundamental habit for life. Learn to maintain daily personal hygiene, such as brushing your teeth, washing your hands before eating or when you come home, are essential points for health care. If these customs are acquired from an early age, it will be easier to perpetuate them over time.
8. Read every day
Encouraging daily reading in children is key to establishing this habit for life.
Reading stories from birth to children, in addition to stimulating language development, helps strengthen the bond between parents and children. Thus, if we accustom our little ones to have a story every night before going to sleep, we will promote the love of reading and encourage them to continue on their own when they can read. This will not only help them improve their academic performance, but will also generate enormous personal enrichment.
9. Maintain organization and order
It is important to establish this habit before adolescence so that children know how to organize themselves and be orderly at this stage of life. These customs will also be useful in the future, especially when they want to live with someone else.
If children learn to put their toys away and keep their personal belongings in order from an early age, they will certainly have a greater awareness of order as they get older.
10. Have a daily routine, with regular schedules
As soon as they are babies, them children need good sleeping, eating, hygiene and recreation routines. This gives them a sense of security and helps them regulate their behavior and needs.
If little ones are used to having a routine with fixed times to go to bed and sleep at least 8 hours a day, they will continue to do so when they reach adolescence.
11. Respect yourself and others
From an early age, we must teach children to respect others and themselves; to value people for who they are, it doesn’t matter what they like, where they live or how they dress. This provides them with essential tools to live in harmony with the people around them and to create a fairer and more respectful society.
Furthermore, it is important to teach our children respect for the environment, animals and plants, and the importance of recycling and reuse.
About Habits Children Should Acquire Before Adolescence
In this article, we’ve detailed some of the habits your kids should learn before they reach adolescence. It is important that you instil them from an early age, so that everything is easier in this phase of change.
Whether teenagers have good habits, family life will probably be lighter and they will cope better with the physical and emotional transformations that characterize this time of life.