Top 6 Ways to Get Your Children Excited About Healthy Eating

Getting your kids to eat, and getting them to eat healthy are among the major challenges of modern parenting. All those colourful commercials for fast food, sweets, and soft drinks aren’t helping, either. It’s true that developing healthy eating habits in your kids is super important and not something that should be taken lightly, but forcing things isn’t the answer. Luckily, there are some interesting and playful strategies that you can use.

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Role Modelling

This should be the first step. You can’t expect your kids to eat fruits and veggies if they witness you gulp down a big burger with fries, not to mention that it’s a bit unfair. Your kids are observing you and they’re subconsciously adopting your behavioural patterns, so instead of giving them “you have to eat spinach if you want to grow up”, you should eat it, too.

Don’t Desert Dessert

Although many parents believe that this could undermine all their efforts, it’s actually a good idea. If you give your kids a small portion of the dessert, even before dinner, they will still be hungry. It’s better to make dessert part of their meal instead of being a reward. On the other hand, denying your kids dessert could have a negative effect and frustrate them, especially since they’ll see that their friends eat chocolate, cookies, or ice cream at school. Introducing some healthy, home-made desserts such as rice pudding, banana bread, or frozen yogurt, is what you should go for.

Be Creative

Just remember how your food is served when you go to a nice restaurant. Sometimes it’s like a little work of art. Take a page from their book, and serve your kids fruits and veggies in an unusual way. Swap french fries with zucchini fries, or add a sprinkle of cheese on broccoli or spinach. It will make them more palatable and kids won’t frown like they usually do when you serve them green veggies. Another important thing is that there’s no reason to avoid canned or frozen fruits and vegetables, as they can have a great flavour that kids will love, and they’re packed with nutrients.

Play Make-Believe

Kids enjoy this game, so you can organize various kinds of themed parties. Each meal can be dedicated to a different type of cuisine adapted to your kids’ taste, so you can have a French, Italian, or Mexican day. An old-fashioned tea party is an amazing idea to show them that tea isn’t a beverage they have to drink only when they catch a cold. Fancy Wedgwood cups and saucers will make the occasion even more festive and fun, so your kids, especially girls, will be thrilled.

Let Them Choose

If you want your kids to learn how to eat properly, you need to allow them to have a certain extent of control when it comes to what they’ll eat. Discuss each meal in advance, and give them several options, so that they can choose between various dishes. That way they’ll be able to pick what they like and still stick to a healthy diet. For example, do they want fruits and vegetables in their smoothies, or they can select whether they want lettuce, cucumber, or Brussels sprout salad for their lunch.

Cook Together

This is a great way of teaching your kids about a healthy diet. Besides that, they will love eating the food they prepared themselves. This doesn’t have to be anything complex, and you’ll be by their side to supervise and help them. Prepare lots of various healthy ingredients for sandwiches, smoothies, or even a pizza. Of course, low-fat ingredients and lots of various veggies will make this pizza a healthy treat, and your kids will learn that even the food that is good and beneficial for them can be mouth-watering.

Besides these several strategies, it’s important to understand that in some cases you’ll have to take it slow and let your kids adopt healthy food choices at their own pace. Small, subtle changes are usually more successful and long-lasting.