Although height is primarily a hereditary factor and is decided by the genes child inherit from the parents. However there are factors which influence your child’s height and interesting to know that you can control them. Attaining a good height and well grown up physique will help in enhancement of child’s confidence and persona.
Your role begins from birth as till 4 year the child is in the first growth spurt, later second growth spurt starts from when they enter in puberty or teen age (in girls it start from the age of 11 to 16 or 17 and in boys it starts at the age of 13 to 18 or 19 yrs), this is the time when a kid attains a height of an adult.
This time you need to guide your child as by this age they have their own food choices, lifestyle, social aura and engagements. So here are few guidelines that will surely help you…..
Manage good eating habits – A growing child needs more protein and calcium rich food that will support growth, some good source of proteins are eggs, pulses, soybean, nuts, whole grain cereals, milk and milk products like cheese, paneer, curd. Non veg are also good protein only if they are not in association with saturated fat so go for lean meat in case you are non vegetarian like fish, chicken.
Limit intake of junk food – Though it’s a bit tough to completely avoid the junk in this age group so, limit the intake of processed and fast food to once a week or 2-3 times a month.
Don’t make them a couch potato – Make sure that your kid is participating in any sports activity in school and have a scheduled for outdoor activities at home as well. Sitting in front of TV and other screens is negative in their growth, so encourage them to play outdoor games.
Make a habit to do yoga and exercise – Be a role model to your kids, make an inductive environment of regular exercise at home where they can learn to be active. Cycling, swimming, stretching, jumping, poses of yoga (like tad asana and surya namaskar) that help to increase the height.
Good posture – A straight spine and leg bones are mainly make you look longer so make it in practice to sit and stand straight always. Make sure your child doesn’t sit or walk with a hunched back or the spine will grow crooked.
Good sleep – While sleeping body releases growth hormones so make sure a sound sleep of 8 hours at a stretch, and that too with a definite schedule. This will help tuning of the body clock and also improves learning and problem solving skills.