Home
>
Parenting
>
Healthy Eating For Children: Six Simple Rules

Healthy Eating For Children: Six Simple Rules

Rule #1 Make Every Bite Count!

Everything your child eats should be nutritious. Children can be picky and inconsistent, so make sure that what they do eat is really good for them. That way if they end up having two bites of potato for dinner, you can be confident that they at least had a great lunch, snack, etc.

"Where's the fun?" you ask. There is not much room in that little tummy, think carefully before filling it with junk. And ask yourself why you are offering chocolate bars or cookies at snack time. It is often the parent/caregiver who is deriving pleasure from seeing children gleefully down a non-nutritious treat. Your child can derive smiles and joy from many other places - it doesn't have to be junk food.

Rule #2 Ban the word "dessert" from your food-vocabulary, and use "treat" carefully.

Make desserts healthy(not just fun) so that things like fruit, nuts, and yogurt become part of the meal, not the reward for finishing it. All good foods can be treats, but we often think of only junk as such - so use the word judiciously.

By isolating foods under these categories, you may negate their nutritional value to your child if you are following Rule #1. Again it is usually a caregiver that delights in serving a "dessert' or "treat" more than the two-year-old who probably wouldn't care otherwise if they've never had triple chocolate cake with whipped cream.

Rule #3 Be persistent, not insistent.

It may take a child a while to warm up to a new food. Just introduce foods gently time and time again until they try it. Never insist that they try something they don't want to, and certainly never insist that they finish their plate. Mealtime should not be battletime. They will eat if they need to.

If you begin a power struggle over meals, you risk it becoming long-term. The point is to get them to eat healthfully, not develop an association between food and control. This is one reason why developing healthy eating habits early on is so important.

Rule # 4 Break the rules our parents taught us.

Many of us can remember moms putting food on our plates and expecting us to eat it - or not. There were few struggles back then because children quickly learned that if they didn't eat what was served to them, they would go hungry. And after a few nights of sitting at the table by themselves until they finished their peas, they learned to eat them without protest.

We now know how destructive this can be. Many adult eating disorders began in childhood, and many sufferers can remember these episodes at the dinner table as a child.

Respecting that your child's tastebuds and moods are as different from yours as is your spouse's, or your neighbour's means learning to break the rules of the "family meal" from time to time.

Let your child have a "creative" meal made up of healthy foods they like, while the rest of the family has their casserole, curry, or stirfry. So long as it is healthy, and doesn't happen every night of the week, letting a child choose their own meals usually won't create the problems our parents thought it would. It will more likely foster a respect for healthy eating rather than an unhealthy association with mealtime.

Rule # 5 Everyone Needs Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for many, if not all, children.

Missing breakfast can set the tone for their entire day and create a downward spiral of too tired to eat vs. too hungry to nap... and so on. What adult doesn't love to have a hungry and tired child on their hands?

Many studies, and many caregivers, will attest to the fact that a good breakfast helps children function better mentally. While most studies lean toward school age children, this fact should be applied to babies and toddlers as well.

Many signs of the stereotypic "terrible-two" year-old is often hunger. Breakfast should contain some protein for lasting energy, helping to offset the midmorning meltdown. Prevention is the key because a miserable child often won't eat, and you won't obtain your objective of feeding them well.

Rule # 6 Learn from your child

Our children know best more often than we give them credit for. Some tummies are really good at letting their owners know when to eat, and how much to eat. Let children learn how to listen to their bodies - many adults have forgotten. Children never fit into one mold, and another person's rules (such as the preceding 5) usually need to be modified to fit your family. Learn to follow your child's rules from time to time... they may surprise you.

Stacelynn Caughlan is a Clinical Nutritionist and Certified Herbalist who specializes in pregnancy, birth and childhood. She is currently the editor of http://www.motherandchildhealth.com an online resource for women looking for information on natural health and healing for themselves and their families.

bathroom cleaning service Lincolnshire ..

In The News:

The Omoway Omo X features a modular design, obstacle detection and emergency braking, and can drive itself to charging stations, signaling the future of smart urban mobility.

PillTrek, a tiny wireless smart capsule created by Caltech, provides real-time gut health data by detecting electrolytes, metabolites, glucose, hormones, pH levels and temperature.

Learn to spot fake bank text messages with five warning signs of Chase phishing scams, including suspicious links and urgent deadlines designed to steal your account information.

Robot coyotes built on motorized cars reaching 20 mph are being deployed at military airfields as an innovative solution to wildlife threats to aircraft safety.

Explore Google Drive's strengths and weaknesses as a backup solution, including its encryption security, privacy concerns and comparison to dedicated backup tools.

As environmental challenges grow, underwater habitats gain momentum with DEEP's Vanguard, supporting short missions and Sentinel designed for 28-day stays at depth.

The new Urban Eyes safety vest features dual cameras, reflective panels and a wireless remote to deter harassers and provide peace of mind for outdoor workouts.

The $200 billion data broker industry tracks your personal details across websites, posing privacy risks that can be mitigated through data removal services.

UCC Holding has teamed up with COBOD to create desert-inspired, 3D-printed schools in Qatar, featuring dune-like wavy walls impossible with conventional construction.

Darkling beetles equipped with microchip backpacks can be guided through disaster areas using electrical signals, offering a biological solution for search and rescue.

Scammers use number porting to take control of outdated landlines still connected to financial accounts, bypassing two-factor authentication to steal funds while avoiding detection.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey developed Bitchat, a privacy-focused messaging app that works offline via Bluetooth without requiring email, phone numbers or personal data.

Google is making a push to ensure its AI, Gemini, is tightly integrated with Android systems by granting it access to core apps like WhatsApp, Messages, and Phone.

A new green energy system is set to change how we capture clean power, and it all starts with the ocean. French startup Seaturns has designed technology that taps into the natural motion of the sea.

Cybersecurity researchers are warning that hackers have started exploiting flaws in chatbots to carry out AI phishing attacks.

Google has just made it easier than ever to regain control of your inbox with Gmail's new Manage Subscriptions tool.

Despite the benefits, residential power saver programs come with several potential drawbacks and concerns that have been raised by both customers and experts.

The Blackdot AI tattoo machine is quiet. It's steady. And according to early users, it hurts a lot less.

Attackers have started to exploit the very signals that users assume will keep them safe when it comes to add-ons to improve productivity or entertainment.

Located on Cerro Pachón in Chile, the world's most powerful digital camera is set to transform how we see the universe.

The innovative DQ Tower stands 28 feet tall with 420 square feet of living space, featuring floor-to-ceiling windows and premium amenities in a prefabricated design.

A new mmWave imaging system allows warehouse robots to scan and create 3D models of objects inside sealed containers, potentially revolutionizing shipping processes.

Family fraud endangers seniors when relatives exploit their trust, but removing personal data online and monitoring identity can prevent financial harm to aging parents.

A study analyzing 500,000 customer service interactions shows chatbots struggle with complex issues while human agents excel at matching customer communication styles.

Aigen's Element robot uses solar power and AI to provide farmers with a sustainable alternative to herbicides, working efficiently in cotton and soy fields.

Healthy Eating For Children: Six Simple Rules

Parenting