Parenting Advice – Developing Healthy Eating Habit In Kids

You are likely to face a lot of challenges when you want to make sure that your children have a very healthy diet. Whereas some children are very choosy about what they eat, some others eat a lot on one day and probably nothing the next day.

If you are really concerned about your child’s unhealthy eating habit, you may need to try a few new techniques in order to make your child eat things that will contribute to good health.  This guide from Charlene from Naturallyhealthyparenting.com details how you can help your kids develop good eating habits:

 Become the Role Model

Normally, children mimic their parents. The kind of foods that you have and the way you have them influences their eating habits. Therefore, you must eat the foods that you want your children to eat. For example, you must eat broccoli if you want your children to eat the same. You can eat with your children to show them that if they are willing to try they may enjoy many foods. Try not to skip meals because it can send a wrong message to them.

 Watch What Your Children Drink

It is very important that your child drinks a lot of fluids that have good nutritional value in order to enjoy good health. Children have a tendency to drink soda and sugary drinks which just add up calories, but do not provide any nutritional value. Low-fat milk and water are the healthiest drinks that your children can have. Whereas water helps your child to remain hydrated, milk provides protein and calcium which are essential for growth. The fruit juices have to be limited to 4 to 6 oz. as they are rich in calories.

Keep a tab on Portion Sizes

Children need only have less food than you. Overfeeding or serving them with a high calorie diet, even if they have high nutritional value, can make them gain weight.

A child of preschool age is required to have about 1 1/2 cups of fruit on a daily basis, whereas an older child needs to eat about two cups in a day.

Children need to have an equal quantity of vegetable servings as well each day. A preschooler needs to have 2 cups of low-fat milk in a day and older and adolescent children need to have 3 or 4 cups on low-fat milk. You can find out as to how much your children need to eat in a day by allowing them to stop eating when they feel full.

Try Different Foods

Your child may say that he/she does not like a food, but that need not be true. It is the natural tendency of children to resist trying new foods/dishes. However, if you introduce new foods anyway, it will expand the opportunity for them to assimilate the required nutrition.

You can allow your children to try the food that you eat when having food in a restaurant or encourage them to choose appetizers from the menu card.

It is a good idea to guide them to choose a nutritious item. Another way of handling the issue is to encourage them to choose a new food every week from the supermarket on a trial basis. However, you must remember that children need to be exposed several times to one food for them to develop a liking.

Charlene is currently looking for guest bloggers for her parenting blog, if you’re interested in finding out more then head on over to the guest post page at naturallyhealthyparenting.com now!