How to teach your kids healthy eating

Many parents find children’s daily meal-time to be frustrating; On the one hand, children may refuse to eat the meal we have prepared and on the other hand, they may prefer having fast-food. Being anxious on them not being properly nourished, we often forget that a child that doesn’t like eating tomatoes, loves eating spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce. Thus, below we will give you some advice as to how you can get your child to start eating healthily.

• Do not pressure your child to eat something by force, since they might react and never eat this food again. However, continue including these foods on the dining table on a regular basis.
• Never restrict your child from consuming certain foods; restrictions fire the imagination and since children have a rebellious nature, you may lose the game. Allow them to consume all foods, but always point out the importance of moderation.
• See the forest, not the tree; parents should worry if their child doesn’t follow an ‘’ideal’’ diet plan. Many kids refuse to consume certain foods or eat specific foods for long periods of time. They still, however, appear to be healthy; they get taller, gain wight, are cheerful and active and develop mentally. Therefore, from a young age, we could provide them with a wide variety of nutritious and nourishing food choices and let them decide on their own. In this way, it is possible that the child will develop a well-balanced diet plan on its own.
• Another way is to control our own dietary behavior; let us be the first to set a good example by following a balanced diet and cooking a variety of foods. In this way, it is more probable that a child will adapt to our recommended diet plan. Do not except a child to follow a diet that you don’t. 7 out of 10 children don’t have breakfast and neither do 8 out of 10 parents. Keep in mind that children imitate behavior.
• Do not reward the child (at least not regularly) with sweets when eating healthily. Children must be conscious of their healthy choices and know that they are beneficial to their body and well-being. It is wrong to use food as a reward; we create a dependency between food and good/bad actions. Good deeds should be selfless. Turn to different types of praising your child. Food is needed for its development and survival and therefore shouldn’t have any other role assigned to it.

In general, teaching healthy eating requires effort and patience, imaginative approaches and games. Look for new recipes, ask mothers who have older children and set the good example by consuming fruit, vegetables, fish and legumes yourself.