Health Tips | Pass These Tips to Your Adult Children

Bringing up and caring for young children is full of challenges. You have to teach them how to cross roads safely, how to play nicely with their friends and how to not fall off their bike! You have to show them how to brush their teeth, and jump up after trips and falls and carry on. These things, while seeming relatively small to other people, are so important. You know that they build the foundations of a happy and healthy life for your child.

So when they reach their older years and their late teens, you’re pretty much done, right? Wrong. Of course not; although people without children might suspect this. You will know that there is still so much to learn. You will also know that there are some things you have yet to pass on and that there are still important life lessons to be learned. So, when it comes to health tips, here is a handful that you’ll be wanting to pass along. After all, healthy adults are happy adults. And what more could we ever want for our children?

How To Check For Lumps

When it comes to young men, they should know how to test for testicular cancer. However, doing so is not generally taught in schools. This means that it is your responsibility to be sure that they know what to do. If you think your teenage son will be mortified to talk about his testicles with his mom's, find an alternative. Draft in his father or a close, male friend of the family, or an uncle. Alternatively, provide him with some internet links and ask him to look for himself. Or, as a last resort, book him a Doctor's appointment and ask the Doctor to bring it up with him, and show him if necessary. Be sure to ask him a few questions about it a couple of days later, so you know he did the research. If he hasn’t, keep at him until he does. It might feel like you are nagging, but him having this knowledge could quite literally save his life one day. www.cancer.org is just one online resource you could use. It’s pretty compact, too, so the length won’t feel overwhelming. Approaching this topic with your son might feel formidable. Try to remember that you are teaching something he will utilize for the rest of his life. He will also pass it onto your grandchildren if they come along, so you’re setting the trend to keep them safe also.

Now, onto your daughters. They will need to know how to check for breast cancer. As you are speaking woman to woman, this might be slightly easier to approach. But, if it’s not, follow the same steps above; draft in a family member, or give them reading material. Remember also that as awareness of checking for breast cancer grows, so do the ways to get this information across. Find a humorous but informative video like the one on Mama Mia Blog's Facebook. Finding more light-hearted ways of explaining this kind of thing makes it super accessible for younger people.

Looking After Their Teeth

From their earliest years, you taught your baby how to brush their teeth. You even bought the strawberry flavoured toothpaste and that cute toothbrush with the animal print. Back then, you told them over and over how important it is that we look after our teeth. Since then, though, you’ve probably let them take the reigns. This is totally understandable, but you need to be keeping a close eye on your children’s teeth. This is especially true for when they enter their late teens. They have easier access to the drinks you might have kept as treats before, like Coke. This might mean that their teeth are starting to stain. Similarly, an increased intake of sugar can lead to rotting teeth and other such problems. Demonstrate the importance of regular appointments by keeping on top of your appointments. Actively explain to them the consequences of not taking care of their teeth. Alternatively, if you weren’t taught how to look after your teeth, and now need dentures, take them along to your appointment. East Indy Dental Care can help if you do.

Spotting The Signs Of Mental Illness

Mental illness is rife. According to newsweek.com, nearly one in every five Americans suffers from a disorder that falls under the mental health umbrella. This is why it is so important that you teach your children how to spot the signs and deal with them.

Some of the signs are seemingly obvious. These are things like withdrawing from friends and family and seeming overly emotional. But they might include things that you might not immediately link to mental health. These are things like headaches and backache that seem to arise more than usual. It’s important that your teenage and adult children know about the signs, and how to spot them. They might one day help them become aware that their partner or close friend is struggling. They may also help them raise concern at work about a colleague. And, of course, they will help them notice if they themselves are suffering in such away. If they’re good at hiding things, it could be that if they ever suffer from a mental health issue, others won’t be able to tell. Or, they might just not notice.

So with this in mind, it is not just important to teach them the warning signs. It is also important to reassure them to ignore the stigma and let them know that mental health issues are nothing to be ashamed of. This goes for whatever form the problem comes in, be it mild anxiety or bipolar disorder. Finally, you need to teach them what they can do it the start to suspect that they themselves might be suffering. Advise them to start with a Doctor’s appointment. However, also, encourage them to come to you for moral support and to set up counselling or other therapies that might help.

You can find more tips on keeping your children healthy, no matter their age, via blogs. Check out this blog post on how I keep my family health.