When parents have a child who becomes a teenager, there are lots of things that change. However, one thing that doesn’t change is the need to keep your child healthy. And even if your teenager resists some aspects of health, there are always certain things that you should keep in mind when it comes to your decision-making process as a parent.

Four decisions in particular that should be able to be incorporated into your daily life during the teen years include health decisions about having a good smile, creating a home diet that makes sense in terms of nutrition, making sure that there is some device free time in the household, and giving the opportunity for nonjudgmental exercise schedules.

A Good Smile

Having a healthy smile is extremely important during teenage years. Teenagers are self-conscious as it is, and feeling like there’s something wrong with their teeth can prevent all sorts of good opportunities, and can also cause a fairly intense amount of anxiety and angst. So, consider that getting a teenager’s teeth aligned should be one of the top priorities in terms of oral health, and respect the fact that though it may cost a bit of money, it’s worth it in the end.

Schedule an appointment with a dentist in your vicinity to learn about the options available for aligning your teenager’s teeth. You may have various options to choose from, including traditional braces, retainers, ceramic braces, lingual braces, and Invisalign. That said, traditional and ceramic braces may particularly be noticeable while talking or smiling. So, if your teen is worried about the visual impact of braces on their appearance, you might want to consider Invisalign or lingual braces.

Device-Free Time

Especially these days, teenagers are hooked into their cell phones 24 hours a day. If you want to create some healthy time for them, make sure that you set some rules as far as device free time goes. A common way to do this is to say that there are to be no devices at the dinner table. As long as this is something that you set up in a reasonable manner and act on consistently, your teenagers should really have no problem following rules for an hour or so a day.

A Healthy Home Diet

As a parent, you should provide healthy meals for your children. Especially during the teen years, kids are going to want to gravitate towards fast food or other unhealthy eating habits. If you want to give your kids the best chance at having healthy skin and appropriate energy levels, then it’s going to be up to you to figure out how to incorporate healthy ingredients into homemade meals that you make available for them at all times.

Non-Judgmental Exercise Schedules

Teenagers fall into two different categories when it comes to physical exercise. Some can be sports nuts and be actively moving all the time. Others may take a more passive approach to movement. And it is in that latter case that you may need to figure out, as a parent, some way to suggest some healthy movement for your teen. The actual motion itself doesn’t have to be something that you like or approve of, which is why it’s important that you figure out some nonjudgmental way to suggest physical activity. This might be something as easy as walking the dog around the block, or even doing 15 minutes of stretching while watching a TV show.