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In honour of Unicef World Children Day, we would like to have a look at how we set examples for our children’s health.
Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. – Robert Fulghum
For example, it’s great that you tell your children to eat your vegetables but don’t expect them to listen to you if you are not eating them yourself in front of them. Having good healthy habits that your children will imitate is the best health education you can give them.
From the time they come into this world, children learn how to live by observing and imitating the people around them. Children learn to process what they see and they make decisions about what to mimic and take part in certain behaviours by watching these people around them.
Showing your children how to have a healthy relationship with alcohol will benefit them throughout their lives. Drinking heavily may show your children that you try and solve problems in an unhealthy way. This will not improve your children’s health in the future.
Children who grow up watching their parents drink are more likely to become alcoholics themselves. As teenagers the region of the brain which is responsible for problem solving, decision-making, and judgment are not fully formed. This manifests itself in behaviours like promiscuous and unprotected sexual behaviour, rebelling against authority, and substance abuse. Moderation, on the other hand, provides children with a good model of responsible use.
Showing your children that a healthy fitness routine is essential for not only physical health but for mental health as well. Set aside designated workout time. This shows your children that exercising is a priority and you’re making a point to instil healthy habits for you and your family. Getting your children to understand and form a fitness routine early on in life will start a habit with them. They’ll notice the importance of fitness without you having to talk excessively to them about it.
Showing your children a good relationship with a healthy balanced diet can have positive effects on them for the rest of their lives.
Healthy family eating should not be simply about eating fruit and vegetables. It’s about eating a range of different foods, and enjoying treats as well. Don’t put too much emphasis on eating as you don’t want negative emotions to be associated with food. Either being too worried of gaining weight or using food as a coping mechanism.
You children will inevitably be exposed to stress and other mental obstacles, even if they exercise and eat healthy. Teaching your children to talk openly about their feeling and not to be ashamed if they are feeling down. Nurturing your children self-confidence and self-esteem is just as important as teaching them healthy eating and fitness habits. Different ways of achieving this are;
Holidays are a time to chill, destress, and enjoy yourself, but it can also be a time when your health plans go out the window, which is never good. It’s important to remain fit and healthy with your family when on holiday.
In today’s column, I wanted to bring you some simple ways to stay fit and healthy with your family while you’re away. It’s great to spend time together and it’s an excellent opportunity to make health and fitness fun with your family too. Remember, encouraging a healthy family and installing a positive association with exercise will dramatically increase the chance of your child staying healthy for life, so it really is incredibly important. Try some of these with your family – you might even enjoy it!
You can make up your own version of this, but the idea is to test how many exercises you can do in one minute as a family. Here is my list of exercises to try: Jumping jacks, sprint on the spot, heel kicks, press-ups and jump in the air. Simply do one minute of each and make a note of how you do – children will love the element of competition. Try it several times over the course of your holiday and see how much you can improve your score.
You’re usually guaranteed to have at least one person in the family with a FitBit, iWatch or some other kind of step counter. You can even download apps on your phone to keep track, if you don’t have a dedicated device. Set a target as a family to hit the magic 10,000 steps a day. What you will find is that you will be doing walks before and after dinner, and the collective goal will make everyone less likely to want to take the bus or taxis. Plus, you’ll get to celebrate the accomplishment of hitting a target every day, which always feels great, no matter what age you are.
No matter where you travel to in the world, you will be able to try new sports and activities, which are generally available for any age group. Researching in advance and booking an exciting activity is one of the really important ones, as the key to helping children stay healthy is finding sports that are fun. Trying something totally different and new on holidays is the perfect way to do this.
If your family love the One Minute Challenge, suggest a group game to play together. There are so many options to choose from: basketball shooting from different distances, penalty shootouts, finding out who can tread water the longest, building an obstacle course or seeing how far you can jump in the sand. Remember, children love games and will love playing games with you, so why not make those games fun? You might even find that you’re a big kid yourself.
Between buffets and being out of your regular routine, you can often lose track of how your family eat on holiday. Just remember the five-a-day rule to keep your family on track: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and dinner. If you’re at the hotel buffet in the morning, then make sure to take some fruit with you to keep as your snacks for later in the day. Sticking to some sort of a routine is so important for staying healthy, both for you and your family. Here are some more steps for eating healthy on holiday.
Quick challenges and games are fun, but you can’t beat a family workout. Try this little workout with your kids and don’t forget to join in yourself too: a three-minute jog to warm up, then follow with three sets and 20 reps each of: squats, plank, lunges, sit-ups and press-ups. If it’s proving too easy, increase it to five sets.
This is the crucial one. You can hardly expect your children to be healthy if you are sitting on the sun lounger, with pints and chips in your hand. You need to show your family that you are being healthy too. So often I get emails from parents looking to improve their children’s health, yet they have incredibly unhealthy lifestyles themselves. The solution? Lead by example and watch what happens to your children’s behaviour.
It is also important to remain financially fit and life insurance can help you do that. At Oomph, we help you find a policy that fits your lifestyle and budget. Get your free quote here.
You are starting a young family and you have the future to look forward to with your spouse and family. Young families have new commitments, such as buying your first home or having children. Another commitment is to make sure your family is financially secure no matter what life may bring.
If you were to die unexpectedly, life insurance is there to make sure your family can maintain their standard of living. It can also make sure they stay in your home, stay in the same school and keep on the same future track. It also gives the grieving spouse or partner time to make decisions. In some cases, it gives the spouse time to find work outside the home, without worrying about finances.
Whether you bring home more or less than your spouse, your family relies on your income. Any income would be missed if something were to happen to you. Even if you don’t work outside of the home, having life insurance is a smart choice. Stay-at-home parents perform valuable services such as childcare, cooking, housecleaning and household management. These services can be costly if that person has to get a job away from the house.
Term policies are quite popular with many young families. This is because they typically offer the greatest coverage for the lowest cost. Term insurance provides protection for a specific period of time (the “term”), and can be ideal for people who feel they have financial needs to cover that will disappear over time, such as a mortgage or a child’s education.
However, many families realize that even after the kids are grown and the mortgage is paid off, their need for insurance continues—to provide income for a surviving spouse, eliminate debts, pay taxes, etc. Because life insurance premiums increase with age, renewing your policy when the term expires can be very expensive. Moreover, poor health may make renewal impossible.
Term life insurance makes sense for many young families because their need for coverage is great and their budgets are often limited. But that doesn’t mean it’s the only type of insurance you should consider. There are other types of insurance on the market that might suit you and your family needs for the future. Contact one of our professional and highly confidential agents today and they will get you the best life insurance on the market today with the leading brokers in Ireland.
At Oomph, we can find a life insurance policy that will protect your young family. Get your free quote here.
Depending on the policy you purchase, you could be covered for different lengths. The term could be anywhere between one year and the rest of your life by life insurance. Depending on how long you’ve had you life insurance coverage, it might no longer be enough.
As your life changes, your insurance needs change with it. Depending on events that have happened and how your mind-set has evolved since you first bought a policy, it may be a good idea to make sure you have enough coverage. Here are some signs to watch out for.
Research has found, it will cost you €250,000 to raise a child from birth to college in Ireland. It is also estimated that the cost of education for a child is €70,000.
If you’ve recently had an addition to your family, your spouse or partner may not be able to afford those costs if something were to happen to you. That’s especially the case if you’re the financial breadwinner.
Two of the top five reasons people get life insurance are to cover mortgage debt and to pay for home expenses.
You do not want your family to be kicked out of your home if they can not pay this. When taking out a mortgage you need to consider what will happen if someone becomes ill, dies or unemployment occurs. Mortgage protection is put in place and designed to pay off your mortgage in such an event as death. There are difference kinds of mortgage protection so make sure you know the difference. It is very important that this is reviewed often especially when your circumstances change and to make sure you are on the right policy to suit your needs.
Two-thirds of people who own life insurance bought it to replace lost income if they were to pass away. If you’ve recently gotten a significant raise or your income has increased steadily since you last bought insurance, check to make sure your insurance coverage is still enough to replace it.
While income increases often come with lifestyle changes, it’s also possible to get a lifestyle upgrade. This is after you’ve paid off debt or improved your cash flow in some other way. If you notice that you’ve been spending more per month than you were a year or two ago, your current life insurance policy may leave a gap between its coverage and your loved ones’ needs.
Another top-five reason people get life insurance is to transfer wealth or leave an inheritance. As you get older, you may start thinking more about what kind of legacy you want to leave behind.
If you’ve been focused on other life insurance needs, it might be time to take another look to see if you would owe any taxes upon your death or what other expenses your estate might incur. You may also consider whether you want to leave any money behind for your children. In most cases, you won’t be able to increase the coverage on your current policy. Instead, you’ll buy a new one to supplement the first.
Whatever you do, take the time every once in a while to determine whether your life insurance coverage is still enough to take care of the people you love.
If you want to review your life insurance policy we are always here to give you free advice and provide you with our expert financial and life insurance advice for your future and your family. Contact us today for a chat.
Do you zone out, hear nothing at all or just hear blah blah blah about insurance? Well, not to worry: we’ve got the low-down on what you need to know and it’s not boring or overwhelming, I swear!
You know about savings, you know about retirement. You might know a bit about investments and long-term financial planning for your health and happiness. And life insurance helps with planning for your loved ones’ long-term health and happiness, especially those who depend on your income, in case something was to happen to you.
In addition to employment-based life insurance (which typically only lasts as long as your employment at your job), there’s term and permanent life insurance.
Sure, there are forms of life insurance that get pricier the more features you add on to it, and the price goes up if you’re a smoker or dealing with health problems. But most people think policies costs about three times as much as it really does. For an example, a healthy non-smoking 30-year-old man can get a €250,000 30-year level term policy for about €18.23 a month. Click here for a quick quote.
Getting married? Having kids? Changing jobs? Bought a house? Significant life events are often the time you become most aware of the need for life insurance—and on that note…
Perhaps you have a life insurance policy that your parents got for you when you were a baby. Perhaps you have a term policy from when you bought your house but now you have a bigger family and you’re concerned about getting them all through college. Or perhaps you want to bump up your coverage because your overall cost of living has changed. And on *that* note …
Sometimes people think life insurance is to pay off their own debts and funeral expenses. But a key advantage of having a policy is to ensure that the people who depend on you will be OK with their on-going and future financial needs if something happens to you. Need help figuring this out how much? Go to this online.
Because life insurance doesn’t get tangled up in estate claims, it generally pays out quickly, sometimes in days or weeks.
Keep your premiums paid up and your beneficiaries up to date, and the door with your agent open so that your loved ones know who to call if needs be. Keep your paperwork with your other vital documents.
Using a specific kind of policy, life insurance benefits can become “living benefits,” money you can access before you die, or use to pay for long-term care, as two examples.
If you still need help getting a handle on all this, talk to us. We can help you understand the ins and outs and the best policy for your budget and needs. Because of course—the most important thing to know about life insurance is that it’s there to help the people you love the most. Contact us today.