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There are many ways to encourage your child to eat healthily. Earlier, I wrote a blog post on the importance of our children eating healthy and even provided some tips for parents to encourage their children to eat healthily.
Of course, it is not rocket science that our children need to eat healthily - healthy eating is essentially fundamental for their growth and development, both physical and cognitively.
However, there is an issue. Children hate eating healthily. I mean, I get it; it is not as attractive as compared to unhealthy options out there right now.
Hence, we can be proactive and purposeful with our approach to encouraging our children to eat healthily - this all starts by creating healthy habits for them when they are young.
In my previous post, I mentioned a few great ways to set that habit down of eating healthy. However, as I did further research, I realised there are more ways and steps parents can take to foster good healthy eating habits within children that help encourage them to eat healthily- there is a plethora of them!
In this post, I will be sharing with you guys five more ways that you can do to encourage your child to eat healthily and foster healthy eating habits!
Give time during meals.
When mealtime comes about, it should be a relaxing and pleasant experience - not a stressful one. As such, do not rush your child during mealtimes - especially when it involves healthy food that the child may not like. Encourage and give them the space to eat and enjoy - but not too long until they start playing with their food. Hence, if they start playing with their food, remove it from them and do not start the next activity until the food is finished.
To aid this process, have a consistent meal schedule with a stipulated timing so that your children know that even though they are given the time to enjoy their food, they will still know what is coming up next. A proper schedule will provide them with appropriate emotional regulation, aiding in eating.
Ultimately, for this to work, patience is vital. Research has shown that children may need to be offered something they do not like or new foods at least 10-15 times before eating it.
Promote independence within children while eating.
This is relatively simple. Allow children to feed themselves during mealtime, but supervise them.
At the age of two, children can already use a spoon to feed themselves; and around three to four years, they can already use a fork. Hence, it is prime time for them to eat independently.
Allowing them to eat independently elevates their prime and gross motor skills, such as holding utensils, scooping up the food in the bowl, and bringing food into their mouth. Furthermore, allowing them to have the independence to eat their meals by themselves will also give them a sense of competency and achievement, which can help them eat healthy foods they hate.
Of course, supervision is vital - if they still struggle to feed themselves, you can step in and help them, or if they start playing with their food, you can approach the situation accordingly.
Keep sizes realistic.
After all, children have smaller stomach capacities - hence it makes sense to limit their portions to only what they can eat.
Besides, smaller portions are much more enticing to look at - especially healthy foods they detest. Since we also eat with our eyes, when they realise that the quantity of healthy food is so little, they will be more willing to eat it since it seems so little.
To do that, provide the child with a smaller plate and only serve them smaller child-size portions. If they still want more, you can provide them with more food.
Furthermore, limit their consumption of any fluid or snacks pre-meal to ensure they can consume the food you initially offered them during mealtime.
Offer choices.
Provide them with healthy options for them to pick from! For example, you can provide them with an apple or banana and let them choose which they would prefer. Giving them choices will make them feel like they are in charge, encouraging them to eat healthy because it seems like they have the upper hand in picking out which healthy food they prefer.
However, do not provide them with too many choices; otherwise, the intended effect of healthy eating will not be met, and it will cause confusion and frustration instead.
You can also allow children to participate in food preparation! By involving children in food selection, meal planning will also increase the chances that they will enjoy their food as it gives them a sense of competency and accomplishment too!
Take note of the “no foods.”
Being healthy also ensures that your child does not eat foods they cannot eat, ergo, are allergic to. Hence, you must be aware of what your child is strictly allergic to (if you do not know yet, it’s okay, you can slowly explore - but do not limit your child’s food intake with the fear of an allergic reaction). Substitute food that your child is allergic to within the same food group.
It is also wise to know what food your child does not like - hence you can turn it up and be creative with your approach to ensure that your child is eating food that is beneficial for him. For example, if he does not like carrots, you can make your food presentation cute, so it is enticing for your child to eat.
(Read part one of this post for more information)
Furthermore, do not entirely deprive your child of his favourite food too! Suppose you deprive him of his favourite food (which is likely unhealthy). In that case, your child will develop insatiable cravings for it, which will eventually cause him to eat more unhealthy food when he is finally given a chance, such as at birthday parties. The critical thing here is just moderation and control.
Picture by freepik.
So there you have it. This is part of two on encouraging your child to eat healthily and develop healthy eating habits. If you know any tips and tricks, leave them in the comments section below or drop a comment on our Instagram page!
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