PARENTS ONLY: keeping family & kids healthy & well

I have a 5 year old that is super picky and does not like to try new things and a 16 year old that will eat just about anything. I know that I am to blame for my kid's eating habbits and I am trying to change that now. My 5 year old used to love fruit and veggies until he was about 3....then he didn't want anymore. It was easier at the time just to give him what he wanted. Which I know was a HUGE mistake. So I am slowly introducing those healthy foods back into his life. He is now loving bananas, apples, and grapes. I am still having a hard time with the veggies though. I make sure he gets them in his spaghetti sauce.

I will continue to get my kids eating healthier since I am the one who dropped the ball. But hey, we as parents make mistakes. So I won't beat myself up over it.

We have 3 kids. 10, 5 and 3. Food is a huge thing in our house, since we all have allergies. 3 of the 5 of us are 100% gluten free (I have Celiacs, and my 3 year old son most likely does as well. My 10 year old can tolerate only very small amounts) We are also dairy, corn, soy, tree nut and peanut free. Everthing has to be cooked by us and we have to know exactly what is in everything. All our kids have a night each week that they are in charge of planning a cooking a meal, even the 3 year old. (with help of course) They will know how to cook when they leave our house. And we try not to make food the center of anything. Parties, family functions etc. are not planned around food, they are planned around the people we are going to see, and the things we are going to do. Food is an after-thought.

We do not force a clean plate, and we do not force the kids to try things if they don't want too. Our 5 year will not eat veggies, and thats fine. She'll pick them up now and sniff them, which is something she wouldn't do a year ago. Eventually she might take a bite lol. She does have to have them on her plate.

We have snacks, but they aren't terribly exciting. Rice cakes and crackers, fruit and veggies, pepperoni sticks, hard boiled eggs. My kids will be the odd ones that have that stuff in their lunches because there are not a ton of other options, and they really don't care. The only one who even knows there is a different way of eating is my 10 year old, and she would pick spinach over a cookie any day. They have never had lucky charms, pop tarts or lunchables, and never will under our roof.

And they are active. During the summer we go to the park every day, we ride bikes, hike, jump on the trampoline etc. During the winter we are less active (very cold here) but they don't sit in front of the tv either. And they all have their own little weights so they can do that along with me if they want.

Some of the best knowledge we can pass along to them is how to cook, what to eat and how to stay active. If they decide to use that info is up to them.

My child eat a large variety of food. Kids need more then adults, more of everything. My son eat what I do, and then he eats hot pockets and totinos and buffalo strips and cookies. He sighs every night for dinner because of the amount of veggies on his plate, but then he gets a cookie or cereal or chocolate milk if he wants it. he *does* like most of the veggies, as evidenced by his second and third helping he generally takes.

I think it's extremely important to teach kids that 2 cookies is find, the entire box is not and the *real* reason behind it.. not just mommy said so. I'm attempting to teach my son to cook.. he's slowly coming along.. I want him to know the difference between a healthy plate of food and an unhealthy one.

i'm not an advocate of "hide the veggies" I put them on his plate and expect him to eat them. All of them.. and it's quite a bit.. but my son is a big kid. (bigger then me at 13!! (not fat very skinny)) I want him to learn proper eating so he doesn't follow the footsteps of my dad, his dad or my brother.

I have a two year old and so far we are doing good. From the beginning we kept junk food away from her and did not eat it around her. She's had the occasional cookie and cupcake/ chocolate but it's rare. I think what has helped us is that my husband and I don't drink soda or juice so there's none in the house ever. She's gotten used to water and asks for it. Her other drink is whole organic milk. She's also gotten used to fruits as a go to snack because we've been offering that from the beginning. For veggies she likes sweet potatoes and squash.

I also find the sectional plates have helped me a lot in making a decision on what to serve, and helped her in separating the food into small sections. For example, a chicken wrap will be divided into a section of chicken, shredded cheese, diced apple and cut up whole grain wrap with a cup of water on the side. She'll eat everything that way as opposed to wrapping the ingredients together.

I got inspired by Candace Bure (DJ from full house) after reading an article about her. She mentioned that she started her kids early with veggies and fruit and they learned to love them without a struggle. The idea is to introduce the wholesome foods at the start and keep away junk. Teach them to have a treat occasionally and as they understand more explain why the treat is not a daily thing.

Other tips I use is getting to know how the little one likes her/ his food. For example, she does not like jelly with peanut butter together. Only the peanut butter on bread. Also sometimes they go through phases of liking something then refusing it. My daughter does this with bananas and cuties. The times she refuses them we move on to another food and she'll eat them again on her own will. Presentation and shapes also helps. I use cookie cutters to shape toast, wraps etc. It makes it fun for them. Leading by example does help as well. I couldn't believe it when my little one was munching on baby spinach! It's because it's been my daily side dish and she's copying me. I was so excited I called my husband right away, lol:)

I don't really know what the US is like with regard to your cereals, but it shocked me here in the UK just how much sugar is in "healthy" option cereals!!

I quite often make my son scrambled egg and healthy baked beans on toast in the morning for breakfast, or crumpets because I know there is less sugar and more nutritionally beneficial to him, it's worth getting up half an hour earlier to prepare it.

Hot lunches at our school are excellent and I have no need to be concerned about what he chooses there which is great as a parent, but he only has them twice a week mainly due to cost. The other three days he will usually have a carton of fruit juice or a bottle of water with a sandwich or wrap with some salad in it (I can't get him to eat lettuce, but at 5yrs old I think it's a bit tricky though I do try to hide it occasionally lol!) some fruit, something dairy such as a yoghurt or a cheese item and a "treat" like homemade fruity flapjack, Soreen, sugar free jelly, plain popcorn or rice cakes. When he comes home from school I will only let him eat fruit for a snack before his dinner - mainly because if he eats anything else he messes around with his dinner!

I try to get him to help in choosing what we have for dinner by asking him to pick a few different vegetables, or the meat or fish we're having. I've found this helps him be less picky and I can honestly say that our child is not a fussy eater at all. There are certain things he really doesn't like (such as bananas) but then we all have those!

He attends football (soccer to the Americans), tennis and swimming coaching every week and as a family we also swim and get out on our bikes every week if the weather is nice. We're lucky to be within walking distance to the town centre so we do tend to walk everywhere, including to school. I explain to him that we walk to be fit and not fat and how good food and exercise really helps our bodies. Equally I tell him that it's okay to have our favourite treats but that they are just that - treats. We can have a pudding after our dinner, we can have our favourite chocolate bar once or twice a week, we can go to KFC every few weeks and that's absolutely fine. I love how my son completely understands WHY we make the choices we do and he doesn't half surprise me with his own. For example when at the shops the other day he asked to buy a massive fruit salad pot. I never deny him fruit so I said sure. He then picked up a Cadbury's creme egg with it being nearly Easter and he asked for that too. I told him to pick one or the other (part of me thought "oooooh!!!! Creme Egg!! Yumm!! And a quarter of the price of the fruit pot!" haha!!! And he put the creme egg back where he found it!

We need to be positive role models for our children, I think some folk rely on school too much to teach them about healthy lifestyles.

I teach kids and adults to read/understand nutrition labels so they can be aware of the food choice they are making.
When my kids go to birthday parties, I make sure they have something healthy to eat/drink (fruit smoothie) before had so they are less likely to over indulge on the party food and they don't get embarassed or have to say "I am not allowed to eat that". I just teach them to only eat if they are hungry. Eduction is key. Kids need to know why they should eat good healthy food and why 'junk' food is a less than ideal choice.