Ten Healthy Habits for MS Families
1. Protect Sleep
Healthy habit: Middle schoolers generally need 8-10 hours of sleep each night.
Try This Tonight:
Set a consistent bedtime and create a 30-minute screen-free wind-down routine.
2. Make Meals Matter
Healthy habit: Regular family meals provide nutrition and valuable opportunities to connect.
Try This Tonight:
Put phones away and ask everyone: “What was one good thing about your day?”
3. Move Every Day
Healthy habit: Encourage about 60 minutes of physical activity each day - sports, walking, biking, dancing, playing outside, or anything your child enjoys.
Try This Tonight:
Take a 15-20 minute family walk after dinner.
4. Talk With - Not Just To - Your Child
Healthy habit: Listening builds trust and makes it easier for kids to come to you when something is wrong.
Try This Tonight:
Ask: “What's something adults don't always understand about being a middle schooler?”
Then just listen.
5. Create Healthy Tech Habits
Healthy habit: Set reasonable boundaries around phones, gaming, social media, and streaming.
Try This Tonight:
Choose one device-free family time - dinner, the first 30 minutes after school, or bedtime.
6. Talk About Feelings
Healthy habit: Help your child recognize that stress, frustration, disappointment, and worry are normal - and manageable.
Try This Tonight:
Ask: “On a scale of 1 to 10, how stressful was your day?”
Follow up with: “What would have made it one point better?”
7. Give Responsibility With Support
Healthy habit: Middle schoolers need increasing independence and clear boundaries.
Try This Tonight:
Give your child one responsibility they can own from start to finish - laundry, packing their backpack, feeding a pet, or managing an activity schedule.
8. Prioritize Belonging
Healthy habit: Positive friendships, activities, and meaningful connections support well-being.
Try This Tonight:
Ask: “Who did you enjoy spending time with today?”
Help your child find at least one activity or group where they feel they belong.
9. Support Learning - Not Just Grades
Healthy habit: Praise persistence, effort, organization, problem-solving, and improvement.
Try This Tonight:
Instead of asking “What grade did you get?”, try:
“What did you learn today that was interesting or challenging?”
10. Be The Example
Healthy habit: Kids learn from what we do as much as what we say.
Try This Tonight:
Let your child see you practice a healthy habit - putting down your phone, exercising, handling frustration calmly, apologizing, or asking for help.