Kids, you will use this advice forever, so . . . you’re welcome.

This newsletter isn’t just for adults – in each issue there will be at least one thing to pass along to your kids. Why? Because we both know our kids are often more willing to heed the advice of strangers than to listen to us. This nugget is from Guy Stuff, but the info applies to girls too!

There are some general “rules” about how to be safe and healthy that apply to everyone. Yep, that’s right—the “rules” that follow apply to you, your parents, and your grandparents, too. These are skills you will use for the rest of your life.

The most important thing is to get into healthy habits now so that you’re in a good routine by the time your body has gone through all its big changes. Since habits are a lot easier to remember than rules, take all the following information and turn it into stuff you do automatically. This will set you up for a healthy life. Here are the five most important basics for taking care of your body.

1. Pay Attention: That means get better at listening to your body. Try to recognize feelings such as being thirsty or hungry or tired. Start thinking about how your moods and choices affect others. It’s hard to make smart choices when you aren’t recognizing what’s going on with you in the first place.
2. Exercise and Eat Well: You’ve heard this a thousand times, but eat healthy foods and get moving every day. Seriously, spending a little less time on screens and paying a little more attention to what you put into your mouth will probably make you feel amazing.
3. Ask Questions: If you aren’t sure about something, ask someone who knows. There’s nothing wrong with not knowing something. If you have a question, you can bet someone else wonders the same thing, too. Go to a person, though—a trusted adult—NOT a computer. You need good information, and random websites don’t always provide that.
4. Sleep: Getting a good night’s sleep every night might just be the most important health tip anyone will ever give you!
5. Keep Clean: It keeps you healthy, and it makes you feel—and smell!—better, too. Besides, stink tends to drive people away.

Growing up healthfully is as much about what you don’t do to your body as it is about what you do do, So keep the bad stuff out!

Excerpted from GUY STUFF published and copyrighted 2017 by American Girl Publishing. Illustration by Micah Player. All rights reserved.