How to Develop Healthy Habits as a Special Needs Family
May 26, 2016
A post by AngelSense, a GPS & voice monitoring solution designed for children with special needs.
Learn more about how AngelSense’s GPS tracking device brings peace of mind to parents and keeps children safe.
From time to time it’s important to take a break from the stresses of everyday life and focus exclusively on your special family. Because at the end of the day, it’s family which makes life that much sweeter. Uninterrupted quality time is not only an opportunity to bond with your loved ones, but it’s the perfect time to work on fostering healthy habits and improving your family’s overall well being.
We invite you to join us in celebrating our special families by committing to fostering habits. To help you get started, the AngelSense community has put together some fun-filled activities perfect for special needs families.
1. Plan sensory friendly outdoor activities
With milder temperatures, now is an ideal time for some outdoor family bonding activities. Just be sure to consider your special child’s needs carefully. A busy jungle gym or crowded amusement park is likely to be overwhelming for children with sensory processing issues. Instead, a quiet spot in a park where you can play a game like Simon Says may be more appealing and enjoyable for the whole family.
Outdoor activity idea: A game of hopscotch can be a fun way to spend a few hours outdoors. Why not take some chalk to a quiet part of a park and create a hopscotch grid together as a family? It’s a fun and engaging activity, and good exercise for a child with special needs.
2. Schedule family time
With the chaos of daily life, it isn’t always easy to make family time a priority. One way to make sure you never miss out on this precious time with your loved ones is schedule it. Whether you decide to watch a movie at home or go out to eat at a sensory friendly restaurant, the important thing is that you commit to uninterrupted family time.
Be sure to prepare your special child beforehand by explaining exactly what you have planned. It may even help to draw up a schedule so your child won’t be surprised by any of the activities.
Family time idea: One of the best ways to spend time together as a family is by playing a game. A fun idea for a special needs family is to play a perspective drawing game. This is especially good for children with special needs. This game involves drawing things from another perspective. For example, everyone would draw their shoe from an ant’s point of view.
3. Volunteer as a family
Volunteering teaches children to care and be compassionate towards others, and can help develop a special child’s social skills. This is also a fun way to bond as a family, and can lead to new friendships. It can also help you spread awareness about your child’s condition making others more tolerant and understanding. When choosing an organization to volunteer with, be sure to find a place that is suitable for your child’s unique sensory processing needs.
Volunteering idea: A great place to start is by researching any organizations which help people with special needs. Not only will such an organization be more understanding of your child but you’re also more likely to meet other like-minded families.
4. Make eating healthy food fun
While it’s not a good idea to play with food, there’s nothing wrong with helping children with special needs see how fun eating healthy food can be. One way to do this is for the whole family to commit to eating one new healthy food at every meal. The shared experience makes trying new food rewarding, memorable and game-like. This is an effective way to help the entire family establish healthier eating habits that stick.
Healthy food idea: Why not create a healthy food calendar which illustrates the new food the family is going to be eating everyday? You can create the calendar together, and can let the family member who eats the most of that particular food cross it off the calendar. This will give your children something to look forward to, and will help them see how fun healthy eating can be.
5. Make bedtime a priority
The importance of sleep for all members of the family cannot be overlooked. However, it isn’t always easy getting a special needs child to sleep through the night. Make the whole family commit to making sleep a priority. You can do this by developing healthy bedtime routines which can include things like no television watching or snacking after 7 pm. Another idea is to reward family members who sleep through the night.
Bedtime idea: Make a bedtime chart to track everyone’s sleeping habits and award points accordingly. This could include things like the time they went to bed and whether they slept through the night. The family member with the most points at the end of the week, gets a prize.
Does your family have any fun traditions to encourage healthy habits? Share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments below
AngelSense is committed to creating a safer world for special needs children. We designed the AngelSense GPS tracking solution to give parents the peace of mind that their child is safe at all times. You deserve peace of mind too. Try AngelSense Today.
