How To Get Your Kids To Eat Healthy Food
Something that’s a constant battle for parents with young children is getting them to eat healthy food and not always wanting to eat junk food or unhealthy snacks. While there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of junk food from time to time, children need to eat a predominantly healthy diet so their young bodies and minds develop properly. Healthy eating is important at every stage of life, but even more so in young kids.
In this article, we’ll take a look at some tips to encourage kids to eat healthy food, such as vegetables, and to drink healthy drinks instead of sugary ones.
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Find Nutritious Recipes Online Aimed At Kids
One problem faced by parents is getting children to eat their vegetables, in particular, green vegetables. Part of the problem stems from how the vegetables are presented. When veggies are just dumped on a plate as is, this is very obvious and many kids simply view the pile of vegetables as something rather untasty.
Instead, you need to be more inventive and include vegetables in less obvious and unique ways in dishes that kids do enjoy eating. You can search online for recipes kids will love so you have some ideas.
It’s mostly about blending healthy food into dishes that kids already enjoy and somewhat disguising vegetables inside things like meat pies, dishes that contain a lot of cheese and so on. Just search online and you’ll be presented with endless ideas for recipes, many of them very easy to make.
Have Fun Inventing Healthy Drinks
A way to encourage kids to consume something nutritious is to create healthy drinks. More importantly, get them proactive and have them involved in inventing their own health drinks, shakes and smoothies.
For example, you and your child could get together and create some interesting drinks with milk. So long as you have a blender, these drinks will be a breeze to make. It’s a simple way of ensuring your child or children eat more fruit for a start and makes milk taste more interesting without adding sugary things like Milo to the mix.
You can blend some milk with fresh bananas and strawberries, maybe even adding some crushed ice for a really cold drink on a hot day. Pour the blended smoothie into a tall glass and perhaps just sprinkle a tiny amount of grated chocolate or Milo on the top for a garnish.
There are loads of different drinks you can blend when you have a blender and encourage your child to invent their own mixes.
Grow a Veggie Patch
If you have a little space somewhere in your backyard, you could grow a small veggie patch. Check which vegetables grow best in your climate, then plant those vegetables in your veggie patch. Involve your child or children in the process and make the veggie patch theirs to look after. Being hands-on with growing vegetables is educational for a young child. It also gives them an increased interest in the vegetables they are growing.
When it comes time to harvest vegetables from the veggie garden, your child will feel a sense of accomplishment and when you use the vegetables they grow in a delicious meal, your child will be far more enthusiastic about eating veggies they grew themselves.
You’ll also have the peace of mind that your family is eating super fresh vegetables that contain no pesticides.
Early Learning Centres Teach Kids About Nutrition
One way to help teach children about nutrition and encourage them to eat a healthy diet is to enrol your child in an early education centre. As part of their everyday curriculum, these centres focus a lot of attention on nutrition and teaching kids the benefits of healthy eating.
Some centres even go so far as to grow their own vegetables, which an on-site chef will then prepare into delicious and healthy meals that kids love eating.
Of course, early learning centres offer a lot more than an education in nutrition. They are safe havens where kids learn education basics and have loads of fun as well.
To find a centre near you, just search online for your area. Using Kariong in NSW as an example, search phrases like:
- Kariong preschool
- Kariong early learning centre
- Daycare centres in Kariong
- And more…
In Conclusion
In order to get kids eating healthy, you just have to use your imagination a little and it can be quite easy in the end. Most importantly, get your kids involved in the process.