How to Get Your Kids Eating Healthier (Without a Fight!)
“Healthy” doesn’t mean much to kiddos. Here’s what does!
If you're like 85% of parents, mealtimes are a struggle. Whether you're negotiating to get your kiddo to choose healthy options or simply choose to eat, each meal can start to feel like a knock-down-drag-out brawl. And in the end? No one wins. Parents leave the table feeling stressed, children leave feeling hungry, and neither leaves with a better understanding of how to improve the situation.
There has to be a better way.
Thankfully, there is. Motivating children to eat healthy foods doesn't have to be a challenge. It starts, however, with understanding why the process can turn into a food battle in the first place. And that's where development comes in.
As children, most have a hard time understanding the concept of 'healthy' foods versus 'unhealthy' foods. They simply understand that there are certain foods they enjoy - either for taste, texture, or smell - because their life-experience so far is limited. They haven't yet made the same connections between food and health that come later for many - this is why when talking about food with toddlers and children, it’s so important to get on their level, refrain from characterizing foods as “good,” “bad,” “healthy,” or “unhealthy,” and help them make connections between food and their bodies in ways that are meaningful for them during childhood.
A great place to start is to share age-appropriate benefits of different foods with your kiddos, highlighting what certain foods can do for our bodies along with how they taste, smell and feel. Here are a few examples:
“This food can help you get STRONGER, just like your favorite superhero!”⠀
“Remember when you had a hard time reaching the shelf in your room? This food can help you grow TALLER.”⠀
“This food helps our TUMMIES FEEL BETTER and can help you poop more easily!”⠀
“You are such a great learner! This brain food helps us grow even SMARTER!”
“Remember when you got tired after playing with your friends? These foods can give you more energy so you can PLAY LONGER!” ⠀
For more tips on feeding kids, grab my FREE guide to reducing picky eating. Better yet, sign up for my online course, Solve Picky Eating, a pediatrician-endorsed resource for parents that will help you navigate picky eating behaviors in your kiddos and set them up for a lifelong healthy relationship with food.