Taking a moment to make sure your health is in top shape may just be the secret to keeping the rest of your family fighting fit.

As a parent, making time for self-care often falls to the bottom of a never-ending list of child-care priorities. You're far more likely to be running after your kids with wet-wipes, tissues and hand sanitizer than worrying about your aches and pains.

While these may all be selfless acts of parenting, what if keeping your health in check meant that you would be able to look after your family better? What if the most selfless act was prioritizing a simple, annual examination that could help you to sidestep potential problems and prolong your life – thereby making you a stronger, better caregiver for your loved ones?

Get a Check-Up. Just Do It.

One appointment, once a year, a few questions and perhaps a test or two, could be all it takes to obtain the accurate information you need to keep tabs on your wellbeing. Your age, gender, health, history and lifestyle all factor into this too so the sooner you can start your health check-up habit, the better.

Ignoring your chronic symptoms, waiting until you’re in immense pain or holding out until you fall over from exhaustion won't benefit you or get you a medal in the parenting department. In this instance, prevention is most certainly better than cure.

Did you know that early disease detection can prevent 7 out of 10 deaths in the United States? According to the American Nurses Association, being proactive and receiving education and counseling is everything when it comes to staying healthy and reducing your risks.

Your health check-up results provide you with real-time data on how you’re doing. Also, they give you the reality check you need to make the lifestyle changes you and your family require before it’s too late - what you do with the information is just as important as having it.

Take it Easy With Sensible Steps

Shaping your health starts with breaking down your options into sensible steps. Plus, if they’re easy to implement, it’s more likely that you’ll keep doing them, and you'll convince those around you to follow suit. As a role model to your children, remember that you'll need to keep on repeating your positive decisions to eat better, move more and prioritize your wellbeing if you want them to become ingrained as lifelong habits that ultimately, reap excellent health check-up results.

Where to from here? The best place to head to is your regular healthcare provider. The CDC is great resource if you don’t already have one. Then, start by scheduling an appointment, arm yourself with a checklist and prepare any questions that you may have about your health status ahead of time. One call and a bit of research are all it takes to get going, and as you know, by taking baby steps, one at a time, you can make great strides in the long run.

If you’ve forgotten how to do this, just look at the healthy, happy kids you’re raising, and they'll soon remind you. You already have the golden key to healthy parenting – you.