It's September: the kids are back to school, the parents are back to work and that means: routine and regularity. To give the daily routine of children a boost, HappyKido has listed a number of handy self-care tips.

A good daily routine naturally includes self-care. Self-care helps children feel more confident , more capable and prouder to feel. Simple self-care tips can make a huge positive impact in the daily lives of children of all ages! Self-care is something a child has to learn to do, once it is in their daily routine, they will continue to do it for the rest of their lives!

Good hygiene

Washing hands, combing hair, brushing teeth, cutting nails, these are often not the most favorite activities of a child. Good hygiene ensures that a child feels beautiful and confident feels and is ready to start the day.

How do you, as a parent, ensure that your child enjoys taking care of his or her hygiene? The answer is simple: make it a fun habit! Think of painting nails, for example: as soon as the nails are cut, they can be painted.

Experiment with fun hairstyles while washing your hair or purchase a toothbrush designed specifically for children. By making these activities fun, your child will look forward to taking care of their hygiene instead of dreading it.

Keeping your own belly full

Independent eating looks different at every age. A toddler is more likely to choose finger foods that won’t get their hands dirty. As your child gets older, you can teach them to make their favorite sandwich, prepare their own school lunch, or experiment with baking, under supervision of course.

Teaching your child to get or prepare food independently is a good idea. As soon as children take initiative, in this case in the kitchen, they create a sense of competence for himself.

Below you will find healthy snacks that your child can easily grab or prepare themselves:

• A simple sandwich
• Pieces of vegetables with, for example, a tasty hummus dip
• A piece of fruit
• A bowl of yoghurt with granola
• A healthy bar

Dressing yourself

Dressing yourself and tying your own shoelaces is all part of growing up. There comes a time when your child will want to put together his or her own outfit and accessories. Like other self-care activities, dressing yourself provides self-confidence and a child can discover their own style in a fun way.

It will probably take less time if you dress your child yourself, but speed is not the goal in this case. Your child is probably not very fast at dressing at first, but by dressing themselves they create a sense of independence and they feel ' big '. A child learns very quickly, so they will be able to dress themselves quickly in no time.

Fun chores

Doing chores is never fun, right? Fortunately, that doesn't always have to be the case. When your child has a positive association with doing chores at a young age, this will also pay off later in life. By taking good care of your environment, you also learn to take good care of yourself as a child. A tidy and clean environment has a positive impact on our creativity , regardless of our age!

Below you can read about easy and fun chores that your child could do at home:

• Watering the plants
• Cleaning up toys
• Setting and clearing the table
• Help with gardening
• Feeding and walking the dog
• Checking the mail
• Making the bed
• Raking leaves

As long as your child has the right attitude, the above chores can be done with pleasure. By calling them 'chores', a sense of community is created. reward and relaxation created when they are completed.

In short,

Your child is never too young to start taking care of themselves. Taking good care of yourself will help you become more confident , more independent and prouder ! When your child has learned to take good care of themselves, you will have more time to take care of yourself a little more often.