Kids can be some of the pickiest eaters. Add that to their affinity for high fat and highly processed food and getting them to eat healthy can feel like an uphill battle. However, there are things you can do to make healthy eating more of a desire and less of a chore for the precious little ones in your life.
Just try these simple tips:
- Make healthy eating fun. If kids don’t enjoy eating nutritious foods, you’re going to be fighting them all the way. So, try to make eating things like fruits and veggies more pleasurable and less of a chore by doing things such as placing baby carrots on their plate so they look like train tracks and tell them they have to make their way from point A to point B. Or, design a picture using banana slices for the sun and apple slices like boats on a sea. Have your child create a story and eat their way through it.
- Engage them in the process. Kids like to be involved. The more they feel like they’re a part of something, the more they are willing to do it. If they’re younger, let them help make their plates more attractive by coming up with their own healthy designs. If they’re older, maybe they can be trusted to assist with chopping up the fruits and veggies or even cooking and serving them. You could talk about new fruits or veggies you want to try and let them pick which ones on your next grocery store visit.
- Be aware of your attitude toward healthy eating. If you look at eating nutritious foods as more of an obligation than a desire, they’re likely going to feel the same. Remember that kids learn a great deal from how you navigate through the world. So, if you want to teach them to eat healthily because it’s good for them, you’re going to want to promote it as such and not as a necessary evil.
Kids can learn to look forward to foods that are nutritious if you go about it the right way. It may take some time to go the “extra mile” but they’re worth it, aren’t they?