A healthy diet is a key part of raising children. The parental guidance you provide around mealtimes help to form positive (and negative) habits that will last with your children long into their adult lives - so it needs to be well placed. The job is tricky enough at the best of times, but if your child is a picky eater, it can seem nigh on impossible.
However, with the right mealtime parenting plan, it is possible to overcome these fussy eating behaviours and that’s what we’ll be looking at in this blog. By reading to the end, you’ll have a few handy tips on how to introduce healthy eating into their diet without the usual stress and hassle.
So, let’s begin...
Remain, Patient, When Trying New Food
When you’re introducing new healthy food into their diet, children are often tentative, perhaps only prodding at it, smelling it or even just putting a small piece of it in their mouths. It’s not unusual to introduce the same food several times before the first bite is taken, so don’t give up if it’s rejected a few times, to begin with.
Avoid Cooking An Extra Meal
Another tip that you’ll find helpful when introducing healthy eating for kids is to avoid preparing a brand-new meal when the first one has been rejected. If you do, you’re making a rod for your own back and actively encouraging picky eating. If you encourage them to remain at the table until the end of the meal - even if they don’t eat, they’ll get the idea of what’s expected of them.
Get Creative With Meal Making
As you’ll learn in many parenting courses, when you approach a problem from a different angle, you sometimes get better results. So, rather than simply cooking the veg you want them to eat the same way each time, try chopping the veg up and mixing it with the food they do like or perhaps top their favourite breakfast cereal with some fruit slices. Just get creative.
Get Your Kids Involved With Shopping & Cooking
Child psychology teaches us that when kids are more involved with how things are done, they are naturally more receptive to new ideas. If you can include them in the shopping and food preparation, not only will they have a say on what vegetables to try, but also in how it’s cooked, with the time they invested in it making them more likely to want to try it.
Want to Learn More About Healthy Eating For Kids? Study An Online Course!
The truth is that each child is unique, and what works for one, may not work for another; however, if you want to learn more on the subject, we offer our Healthy Eating For Kids, a parenting course that goes into much greater detail and with all tutoring carried out online, it can be taken at your own convenience.
At OCA, we offer a wide range of CPD-approved parenting and child psychology courses for both parents and educators to allow them to relate better to the children in their care. If you would like to see the full range, you can do so by visiting us online at www.onlinecoursesaustralia.edu.au.
Alternatively, if you need to speak to us about your requirements prior to enrolment, all you need to do is call us on 1300 611 404 today and we’ll do our utmost to assist.
