Fostering healthy eating habits in children’s care is essential to help them develop a balanced and nutritious diet for their overall well-being. Encouraging nutritious choices and teaching children about the importance of a balanced diet can set the foundation for a lifetime of good health.
Kids can be quite picky regarding food. Most times, what they regularly prefer may have minimal nutritional value. Other bad habits they exhibit relating to this include:
1. Playing with their food and food items.
2. Rejecting certain or all vegetables.
3. Refusing to eat.
4. Clinging mostly to a particular food.
4. Having a dislike for new foods.
There might be others. While this may be worrisome to you, it’s not as challenging as you think it is. Most of us were that way or even worse at their age. Now, we know better. So, we can resolve this issue together, and we will.
There are two ways to approach this: by talking and doing what we say. We can teach them verbally, being careful to explain certain key details to them in simple words. After that, we must become an example of what we teach or preach. It’s no secret that the fastest and most practical way children learn or pick up habits is by watching what we do.
1. Practice Consistent Heart-to-heart Talks
Children like to talk and be talked to. Developing an effective communication and feedback loop with our kids gets most issues resolved, including this one. Here are the various ways to do this correctly.
- Use Choice Words
Over the weeks, months, and years, you are going to be doing a lot of talking and explaining. Please note that this doesn’t have to include nagging or scolding. When this becomes the case, it proves you have lost control of them. If you use the right words from the onset, you can have your way with them solely for their nutritional and health benefits.
Avoid using vulgar or angry words even when you are annoyed or under pressure. Words like “tasty,” “delicious,” “healthy,” “strong,” and “powerful” are suitable examples. You can go like this, “Beans contain protein while onions give vitamins. Children who don’t have enough protein and vitamins are not strong. They usually fall sick and end up in the hospital.”
The motive here isn’t to scare them but to present the truth in all simplicity to them.
- Explain With Physical Evidence
Pick up the various food items in your house and tell them what they offer the human body. Kids with their natural tendencies would always want to choose their favorites. As adults, we know better. It would be beneficial to show them the children out there who lack food, including those who are malnourished or in lack.
When they understand that other suffering children crave what they have in abundance yet despise, there will be a switch in their mentality. Lecture them that children who eat healthy and regularly have strong bodies, bones, muscles, teeth, and sharp minds. Most kids like to be associated with the above-listed physiological attributes.
You may have to go as practical as possible. It’s noteworthy to reiterate that this isn’t to frighten them but to tell them the truth with real facts. Your offspring deserve the truth, don’t they?
- Match Your Words With Your Tone And Gestures
Some kids would always presume we are joking, even during serious moments. Our body language matters a lot. Do not just throw the words carelessly during plays, games, or casual activities. Create a solemn moment to indoctrinate them.
Keep a firm but relaxed face, use a friendly and trustworthy tone, and gesture gently to drive home your points. It’s heartbreaking when children don’t trust their parents or guardians, and many don’t. These little minds are smarter than we think. They arrive at well-informed decisions over time based on how they perceive us.
Hence, you want to earn their trust in this and all other matters. When they realize how seriously you regard this issue, then they will do likewise. Show them enough love and support as you do these.
- Let Others Talk On Your Behalf
Sometimes, our efforts don’t go as far as we intend. It would be beneficial to allow our kids to watch children’s shows or cartoons that encourage good and healthy eating patterns. They are naturally drawn to those programs. So, whatever good lesson they pick up, they will be long-lasting.
Remember that these TV shows come with appropriate music, tunes, narrations, and voices that appeal to children. It’s like taking them to another world to educate them and bringing them back home. You can create interesting children’s stories on this subject or hire the services of a skillful writer.
Fascinating tales linger on these little minds and affect their behavioral patterns. Whatever talking you add to these will foster incredible results.
Read Also: Iron Rich Foods for Babies, Kids & Toddlers
2. Act The Talk
It’s not enough just talking. Yes, we will not achieve much because children learn more by observation. When we don’t back up our words with the necessary actions, they learn not to trust us over time. However, when what we do and say align, they don’t only learn from us, but they lean on us.
Trusting in us means that they make us their best friends and close confidants. Here are the required actions to take if we must foster healthy eating habits in our little ones. So, eat healthy. Let them continually see you, and they will learn. This turnaround may not be immediate. So, be patient with them.
- Show A Preference For Homemade Foods
One of the best food lessons the younger generation can ever learn is that quality foods are mostly prepared domestically. Here’s a great foundation to begin. While fast foods seem more appealing or even taste better, show them why they must focus inward.
Firstly, the food business is all for profits, so they use cheaper but less quality ingredients. Also, you aren’t sure about the hygiene conditions of their kitchens and meals since you aren’t involved in the preparation.
Furthermore, when you cook at home, you are mindful of the nutritional value each meal provides. Your kids don’t know these facts, but you do. It’s your responsibility to help them value homemade dishes. When you do this successfully, they will have an affinity for domestic meals than whatever is out there, even as teenagers and young adults.
- Make Them Participate In Food Chores
These activities involve not only the preparation but also the actual meal times and afterward. From the shopping of the food items, let them follow you as you make the choices at the mall or market. During this moment, explain what you are doing and why.
The preparation process should be no different. Irrespective of their ages, find ways to involve them. Even if it’s to witness the activities, they can help in carrying or holding certain weightless items. All these build up within them the enthusiasm for meal times. It’s psychological.
They would want to satisfy their curiosity by eating what took that much attention and effort to prepare. One of the things that bother us as parents is how our kids disdain meals we took much time and effort to provide. After meals, endeavor to involve them in the cleaning and washing.
- Find Creative Means To Inculcate Healthy Foods
Some kids may dislike chili peppers or onions. Thus, they may want to eat their rice or spaghetti without sauce or soup. In cases like this, minimize the amount of pepper in their meals. Then, blend the onions instead of chopping them into bits. So they don’t get to see them.
Salads may be another way to introduce healthy vegetables along with their rice. For those who dislike certain fruits, you can blend them with their favorites into a smoothie. The chopping of certain vegetables into their foods is another remarkable idea.
While we may not be able to state all the instances here, the key is to find subtle ways to make them eat more healthily and regularly. Sometimes, the quantity may not matter, like the quality.
- Serve Them Appropriate Food Portions
This one may be tricky because portions are subjective sometimes. However, we can still get this done smoothly. Do you have children with massive appetites? While that is commendable, you may want to reduce their meal sizes to accommodate the intake of adequate water, fruits, and vegetables.
Also, it’s always safer and healthier to consume smaller but more frequent food rations than fewer larger ones throughout the day. Conversely, reducing food quantity may be the ideal solution to getting your kids with less appetite to eat well. Focus on letting them take more proteins, vitamins, and minerals. Remember to always place quality over quantity.
- Don’t Be Hasty To Introduce New Foods
Some of our kids may have no issues trying new dishes. For those who do, we must take things slowly. You may have moved to a new location and have access to other varieties of foods. Perhaps a shrink in your disposable income means you must adjust.
You may want to talk things out with your child first. Tell them about the nutritional benefits of the food you intend to begin. If you have extended families or friends with kids who have such meals, visit them when they eat such foods.
Your child may be more receptive to seeing other children savor those dishes. However you intend to do this, tread softly and slowly.
Read Also: How to Get a Picky Toddler to Eat
Conclusion on: Fostering Healthy Eating Habits In Children’s Care
As we draw the curtain on this, remember that you know your kids more than anyone else. So, endeavor to tailor these tips to their personality types. You can also read up about the experiences of other parents. One thing is certain: you have already begun to resolve these issues with your children once you actuate these points consistently.
