4 Parenting Tips to Get Your Kids Eating Healthier

Getting your children to make smart food choices can be tough. A lot of schools these days do a great job offering healthy food at lunchtime. They also stress proper nutrition in the classroom, but even so, children are surrounded with unhealthy food influences. 

Then there are the dozens of fast food restaurants located within minutes of your home or your child’s school. Every parent wants the best for their children, and if you’re having a difficult time getting your kids to make smart food choices, the following 4 tips can help.

Adorable little boy refusing to eat vegetables at table in kitchen
Photo credit: Deposit Photos.

1 – Don’t Expect Immediate Change

Smart parents start slow when trying to change behavior in their children. Get your kids to agree to try one new fresh fruit or vegetable serving each day. Remove some less than healthy food, some simple carbohydrates or sugar-laden, white flour-packed food. 

Slowly increase this to two substitutions per day, and eventually three or more. If you meet your children halfway and take things slow, you’re more likely to develop healthy eating habits that stick.

2 – Get Them to Drink Water before Meals

This is a great healthy eating tip that works for adults as well as children. There are several studies that show drinking 8 to 12 ounces of water before meals can help adults eat less. This doesn’t necessarily change the “what” of your eating choices, but it can certainly and positively affect the “how much” aspect of mealtime.

Your children might not be able to drink that much. Getting your children to drink a small cup or two of water before meals not only makes them feel full quicker when they eat, but there are other benefits. Water is a great detoxing agent that helps rid your body of waste material, and water is always a smarter, healthier drinking choice than a soda or energy drink.

3 – Think Small

Broccoli and peas, Brussels sprouts and beans, kale and cucumbers are right there at the top of the most hated foods list for many children. If you’ve tried to get your kids to eat these and other healthy foods and had a tough time in the past, perhaps you’re thinking too big. 

A smart parenting tip is to think small instead. You can’t eat a serving of peas without eating a single pea first, so why not get your kids to do exactly that?

Serving incredibly small portions, such as one bean or one pea rather than an entire serving, is a proven way to slowly get your children to adopt healthy eating practices. Reward these baby steps by following the consumption of the dreaded vegetable or fruit with some type of food your child loves as a reward.

4 – You Have To Practice What You Preach

Gone are the days when you can tell your child, “Do as I say, not as I do.” Kids, especially very young children, want to emulate their parents. Toddlers unconsciously look at the world around them and mimic the behaviors and choices they see adults making. 

This means your young children see and hear a lot more than you may realize, and what they see you doing is what they desire to do.

This is a very natural learning mechanism. Baby bears grow up doing what their parents do. The same is true with dogs and cats, and your child is going to be more likely to adopt a healthy eating practice if you do so first. If you want to give your children the gift of happier, longer, healthier lives, start eating right yourself. 

Before you say anything about why you are eating the way you do, simply change what you’re eating at mealtime. 

Eat more healthy food and less processed food. Drink lots of water. Rave about how good fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, nuts and seeds taste. Your child may begin eating that way when you lead by example without you having to engage in a battle of wills every time breakfast, lunch or dinner is served.

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