Simple Food ~ Sane Life

Yesterday’s post addressed the impact parents can have on their child’s food at school. The kitchen cupboards and refrigerator were also swung open for a reality check.

Charity begins at home. Donate the time and energy to your health and your family’s health. The results from this generous health donation will pay forward immediately and throughout your lives regardless of where you dine.

For parents who feel they ‘battle’ with their child to eat healthy foods at home, I want to share with you, Angela Russ’ tips. There are ways to make it fun and easy for the kids, simple and sane for the parents.

Collaborate with your family to create your own fun tips list!

Enjoy!

Fun Ways to Get Young Children to Eat Healthier

By Angela Russ

1. Prepare Healthy Meals Together

Engaging children in the preparation of kid-friendly healthy dishes is so fun and so very messy, but children are more likely to eat something that they have helped to prepare. Don’t forget to dine together. Children who eat meals with their families tend to have better diets, not just because meals are planned, but because of the positive examples that are set at the table.

2. Get Creative

Make silly food faces out of fresh fruit and vegetable slices, and come up with amusing, silly names for the healthy foods you prepare. You can become a consummate actor or a verbal Picasso to get them to taste something new.

3. Pack Snacks Together

Children can also benefit from packing snacks for the day, or packing for a picnic. When planning a long-term getaway, encourage them to help with bagging individual portions of fruits, chilled veggies, cheese sticks, crackers, trail mix, water, 100% juice boxes, and other good choices.

4. Take Children Shopping

Young kids love to play grown-up. On a real excursion to the grocery store, allow the children to pick a new fruit or vegetable to try at home. Let them weigh their choice, bag it, and put it on the conveyor belt. Once home, let them help you present it to the family. Try to avoid flying through each aisle like a secret agent on a mission. Slow down and turn shopping into a learning experience.

5. Plan a Family Taste Test

Slice a variety of apples such as, Fuji, Granny Smith, Red Delicious, and McIntosh. Set out a variety of breads such as Sourdough, Rye, Potato, Whole Wheat, Pita, and Tortilla. After each taste test, compare the various textures and characteristics while you talk about your favorites. A great time to do this without spending a great deal of money is during dinner at a buffet.

6. Show Kids How to Grow Food

Many local growers are happy to share the farming experience with young children if you call ahead of time. Take a trip to your local farmer’s market where you will often find fun activities for kids. Children are more likely to eat fruit or vegetables that they have grown and picked themselves. Use a planter, or assign a small piece of your yard to start your own private garden.

Find coloring books or read books that introduce fruits and vegetables as characters, or have interesting stories that revolve around healthy foods. Books such as I Will Not Ever Eat a Tomato, Counting Pumpkins, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Food for Thought, and Eating the Alphabet: Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z make for some great fun and educational reading. A quick and easy resource for nutrition and health education books for children is found at NeatSolutions.