How To Get Your Kids To Eat Healthily
Being a parent to a little busy body means you are faced with the task of not only providing nutritious foods but also exposing your little one to a variety of different tastes and textures to encourage a future of healthy eating. No pressure!
But one of the parents’ most common questions is: how do I get my child to like eating healthy?
Sometimes telling little food fibs, like carrots will give you vision in the dark, or that eating green beans will make you grow taller, does the trick. But some children are a bit fussier…and with good reason! As many veggies can be bitter in flavour, so naturally children will indicate their preference when choosing between something sweet or bitter broccoli.
However, it is important to empower your child to eat healthy at a young age. Developing healthy eating patterns early on can influence their health for many years to come. Luckily, there are many yummy ways to get your child interested in their fruits and veggies (none involve tricking or hiding them!).
Tips to get kiddies to eat healthily
Eat with your child and have regular family meals.
Children are more likely to try the foods they’ve seen other people eating, especially their parents and siblings. Family meal time allows you to become a healthy eating role model to your child. When your little one sees you enjoying some broccoli, carrots, or spinach, they’ll accept them more willingly!
Play to make eating fun.
Let your child build with broccoli, swim spoons through a new soup and make macaroni necklaces. Incorporating intentional food play into mealtime helps children learn about new foods and accept them (or not). Experiencing the food in a pressure-free zone allows them to engage without the fear that they’ll be forced to eat said food. Have fun with food play and let your kiddie’s imagination run wild! Here are some ideas you can try:
- Broccoli builders: Chop it up and let your kids build forests with them. Add their favourite toys like trucks, Lego people, animals or dinosaurs.
- Cucumber castles: Stacking cucumber slices (or another hard veggie like carrots) to make towers.
- Creepy crawly peas: Practice counting or creating creepy crawlies! Peas also make the perfect tool for pincer and fine motor development.
- Pizza portraits: Chop up some veggies to decorate their pizza portraits. Encourage them to create their face or even each other!
(Try your best not to fuss over the mess, this is part of the sensory process!)
Learn while you taste.
For some kids, learning about the foods on their plate can create more interest and willingness to try them. So next time your child is hesitant to try new food, hop online with them, look at pictures, fun facts, or other ways to prepare the food, anything to help develop their curiosity. They might ask you inquisitive questions, or become fascinated by the food’s details. Just like playing, this will help them become more comfortable with unfamiliar foods.
Guess the food by smell, taste and sound.
For foods with a strong smell or taste, try passing a blindfold around the table and each taking turns trying to guess what food is by smelling and tasting. Take the blindfold off and have your child guess what’s on their plate.
You can do the same by listening to food noises, what does it sound like when you squish a pea or snap a pretzel? Have your child hold up squishy food to their ear, press on it, and describe what they hear. This sensory experience can help them feel more comfortable trying new foods.
Avoid battles over food.
It’s easy for leftover veggies to become a source of conflict; pressure to eat certain foods can quickly turn into pressure during mealtime which increases fussiness in your little eater. Rather than bargaining or bribing kids, give them some control. Let them decide if they’re hungry, what they will eat from the foods served, and when they’re full. Here are some guidelines you can follow:
- Establish a consistent schedule of meals and snacks.
- Don’t force kids to finish their plates, as it teaches them to override feelings of fullness.
- Don’t bribe or reward kids with food like dessert for eating the meal.
- It is the parent’s job to decide what foods to offer when to offer them, and where to offer them. However, your child will decide how much they want to eat of the foods you’ve offered.
Involve kids in the process.
Many kids will enjoy the process of choosing what to eat for dinner and helping prepare it. Talk to them about making wholesome food choices and planning a balanced meal (think vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nuts, high-quality dairy, fish, and lean meat). You can even make an adventure of it by taking them shopping for the ingredients!
When helping cook in the kitchen, select age-appropriate tasks so kids can help without getting injured or feeling overwhelmed. And at the end of the meal, don’t forget to commend the chef on the yummy meal! Preparing and packing school lunches can be another learning tool for kids. Getting your kids involved in the process can help prepare them to make healthy decisions on their own about the foods they want to eat and help create a lifetime of healthier choices.
Serve a variety of healthy foods and snacks.
Offer fruit and vegetables from a young age and often. Continue to offer fruit and veggies frequently to help your little one start to like them. Stock up on healthy foods for your kids to eat at home. Here are some guidelines you can follow:
- Incorporate fruits and vegetables into the daily routine, aim for at least five servings a day and be sure you serve fruit or vegetables at every meal.
- Keep healthy snacks on hand and ready to eat, this will make it easier for kids to choose healthy snacks.
- Serve lean meats and other good sources of protein, such as fish, eggs, beans, and nuts. Choose whole-grain bread and cereals so kids get more fibre.
A super easy way to get your kiddies to eat more fruit and LOVE it is with Farm World’s variety of yummy fruity snacks. These snacks are a great source of fibre, high in vitamin C, with no added nonsense like cane sugar, artificial flavours, colourants or preservatives and allergens! Making it a perfect and healthy choice for little bellies. Farm World snacks are also super interactive and ideal for encouraging food curiosity, at home, in lunchboxes or on the go.