Wellness Trends for Children

 
Health, wellness and self-care are new buzz words during the past year. The Covid-19 pandemic has definitely shifted focus on maintaining a healthy lifestyle not only for individuals but for their children as well.

According to the Insights Family report The Next Generation of Families, “research firm has found that US kids ages three to 12 are 51 percent more concerned about their health and wellbeing than they were last year.”

Allen Marketing Communications, Inc., a boutique travel and lifestyle public relations agency spotlights key trends as it pertains to wellness for children.

Mental Health Is Front and Center for Younger Children
Mental health has become a bigger topic now and has expanded to younger children. “Almost 20 percent of six-year-olds say mental health is one of their top three concerns—surpassing both bullying and violent crime. To cope, 39 percent of US families are engaging in some form of meditation or mindfulness activity at least once a day,” according to Kidscreens.

The lockdown has shifted the spotlight on mental health concerns as kids were unable to go about their normal lives interacting with other kids
 
Multi-Generational Wellness — Grandparents and Grandchildren Engage in Wellness Activities together.
After a year of lockdown, the Covid-19 vaccine has made it safe for family members to reconnect for in-person gatherings and to minimize the sense of loneliness brought on from isolation.

Global Wellness Institute reports “Generational wellness, where we have older family members being able to participate with younger members of the family, and, in fact, without even being a family member.  There is a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose and that someone was there that they could connect with.”

Grandparents must tend to their own health while also engaging grandchildren in activities that involve exercise and healthy eating.  Wellness activities such as taking grandkids to the park or just on a walk are simple ways how grandparents and grandkids engage in wellness activities together. 

Kids are very active, so for grandparents to engage with them, they must also stay active too. It can be done by hiking, fishing, lawn sports, or running. Engaging in these activities has also proven to build a stronger bond between them.

Wellbeing Apps
Technology has created an innovative way to keep track of your health and wellness from sleep to breathwork. For example, an apple watch can detect when you should stand up or when it is time for you to take a breath. 

“Families are starting to actively seek out brands that support their health and wellness.  In the U.S., the percentage of kids with Apple Watches jumped from 1.6 percent in 2000 to 5.1 percent in 2001,” according to Kidscreens.

Apps on your phone can track how many steps you’ve taken in a day, how many calories you’ve burned, and keep track of your sleep schedule to build a healthy lifestyle. 

The pandemic has created a need to have a healthy immune system where our bodies can naturally combat any virus. Thus, Apps that helped monitor your diet became in huge demand.

School Nutrition As A Science Supports Wellness
Research has shown “that improved nutrition in schools leads to increased focus and attention, improved test scores, and better classroom behavior. It can also create healthy eating habits, growth, and intellectual development.” 

A healthy lifestyle helps contribute to schools’ effort to provide a strong education. It is important to help kids build these habits while they’re young so they build a strong foundation to live a long healthy life.

Parents Renewed Interest in Children’s Curriculum During Lockdown
The pandemic undoubtedly has brought everyone closer.  Due to remote working and remote classes, parents and children learned how to work together while their parents worked from home and kids studied from home. 

As a result, parents became more involved with their kids’ schoolwork and got a first-row view of how teachers were educating their kids. These trends continued past the stay-at-home mandates where parents became more involved to ensure their kids are getting the attention and education they deserve.

Some parents have also embraced flexications -- an escape for three or four weeks or longer -- with parents working remotely and children enrolled in virtual classes anywhere in the world.  Families embrace new ways of mixing business with pleasure by traveling during the off- and shoulder seasons during the school calendar year.

As things slowly get back to normal following the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the wellness industry has focused on children's overall mental and physical wellbeing.

​Our travel and lifestyle public relations professionals are here to help savvy marketers capture their share of wealth in the wellness industry.  Give us a call.
 
By Athanasia Gouvatsos at Allen Marketing Communications, Inc.
 

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