Eating habits are not intuitive; they are actually learned behaviors. What your child eats early on in life at home will influence what he or she will eat once becoming an adult. Unfortunately more and more Americans find themselves grabbing something fast to eat on the way home or with throw a frozen dinner in the microwave oven instead of cooking a healthy meal. Food advertising that children and adults face on a daily basis does not help their food choices. Parents need to set the example early in life as to how to make healthy food choices.
How to teach your child to make healthy food choices. Teaching your child to choose healthy food to eat lies with you as a parent. It is best to start teaching your child healthy food choices when they are young. However, regardless of the age of your child, there are ways you can teach your child how to choose their food wisely for the long-term.
Be a positive role model. Parents who often complain about their children's poor eating habits usually have poor eating habits themselves. Children need to see their parents, positive role models, enjoying healthy food. Children who witness their parents eating fast food while serving them healthy food, will probably want the fast food. Also, parents who eat very little, skip meals or do not eat sitting down often have children that exhibit similar eating behaviors later on. Parents must practice what they preach.
Let your children go grocery shopping with you. As it is much easier to go grocery shopping on your own, many parents opt to leave their children out of the grocery shopping experience. However, by encouraging your child to grocery shop with you, you can educate them on healthy food selections plus get them involved in choosing raw foods for meal preparation. Let them ask you questions about various foods. If your child shows interest in a healthy food, try to purchase that food - don't discourage your child by assuming he or she won't like it. Grocery shopping gives you the opportunity to discuss with your child where food comes from and the ways you can cook food.
Exercise flexibility. Keep in mind that any food in moderation is not going to hurt your child. In fact, it is important that your child does experience these foods at home as he or she will probably encounter outside the home. It is important that your child learns that these foods can be eaten but some healthier food choices need to be eaten as well. Teach your child about eating a balance of different foods so they develop a good relationship with food.
Make mealtime interesting. In order for your child to make healthy food choices they need to be interested in food. It is important to sit down at the table to eat meals and enjoy mealtime. Flavor food so that you can savor the meals. Encourage children to sit and eat however, for younger children they may not be able to sit for the entire meal. Let your little one get up once or twice but do not let them eat while standing up. Another way to make mealtime interesting is to involve the children. Have your child set the table with real glasses, cloth napkins and maybe even a tablecloth. Every once in a while, light some candles too to make it a special meal.
Make the same meal for the whole family. Don't make different foods for members of your family. If you make the same foods for your child then they never have the opportunity to branch out and try new things. As children might need up to ten exposures to a food in order to like it, exercise patience and keep serving it. While you should not make different foods for each person in the family, you should try to make at least one food that each person enjoys.