Educating children on good nutrition?

It's not easy as so much of the school and media nutritional education is about weight. We have 2 sons, one of whom is as thin as a rake and eats like a horse, and the other is more inclined to put on weight but has never been very overweight. I don't want the 'thin' one to think he can eat anything he likes and end up unhealthy and I don't want the other to be anxious about his weight. Teaching your kids about health and nutrition is just as important as any other life skill but one that many parents seem to ignore.

My approach has been to eat well as a family and teach them both that treats are to be enjoyed occasionally. We don't usually buy sweets, biscuits, crisps, fizzy drinks etc but these things are not banned, just not central to our diet. When we bake cakes they have a slice and then it's put away for the next day. We eat pizza, ice-cream, chips etc but not every night. Through experience they know what a healthy meal looks like and expect to have vegetables as a large part of their meal and fruit for snacks. When we eat out they will have a coke with their meal and my husband and I have some wine, but at home we mainly drink water.

Something that I think has been very important as a family is that we all sit down together to meals - this not only teaches them to eat proper meals rather than to graze on junk all day, but means that we have good time to talk (even when they come to the table grunting and punching each other they have transformed into quite nice people by the end of the meal!).

We discuss food and the importance of nutrition and about having a balanced diet but most of this relates to being healthy and what our bodies need to function rather than to getting fat. Both boys have enjoyed some of the TV programmes about people with strange eating habits and watching these together has led to some interesting discussions about what we should eat to be healthy.

In Canada it is park of Junior Kindergarten. So I did not start the conversation, I was working like crazy and was not sure when I would start talking about it and my daughter came home with a whole brain full of knowledge. I will tell you what her lovely teachers did to educate her.

They brought the whole class on a walk to the grocery store after having discussions in class about what healthy food is. Upon arrival they would identify which foods are healthy and which were not. They also learnt about everything in moderation and got to try new foods at the grocery store.

They also had parents send in food boxes/ containers so they could play grocery store or have discussions with props.

So now my daughter can tell you that cake and fries taste good but do not help your bones grow and can lead to bad health, so she knows she cant have them everyday or needs to have a fruit or veg with a "bad" meal.

My daughter knows that water is important, so she will choose that if she's already had juice. She knows about choosing meat, fruit and veggies. We let our children watch free runners on you tube, gymnasts, they love super heroes and martial arts and know to be like that it not only takes practice but good nutrition. So we have drilled our children that to reach your goals you not only need to practice but have good food choices to help you power your body. We said that food is your bodies power.

We talk about fitness and food everyday. We don't say fat or obese in our home or lazy, we don't want to scare our kids or make them think bad about those who don't make the choice to treat their bodies well. We just bring up good nutrition often like you would saying don't go with a stranger or talking with them about what it takes to be a good citizen or proud family member.

TV also helps teach nutrition, you can youtube kid shows.

Also I speak with my children about how good sleep is for you. I told my daughter if she wants her hair to grow like Rapunzel she needs her sleep. I told them you can get pale skin and dark eyes, because the body "fixes" itself when you sleep and if you stay up late you will see in your face that your body did not fix itself. So They know about water, food and sleep.

Good luck to you and thank you for taking the time to teach this to your children. It is great to know that my children are sharing a world with other children who have caring parents. Sometimes I am shocked at other parents values, and you truly are making a difference in the future so thank you! YAY for upstanding parents, it may not be easy but the knowledge we can pass down will make all of the difference in their lives!

i think it's easy.

since they were tiny we would do grocery shopping together, plan meals together & cook together. they were in on the thinking that goes into a balanced diet. can we have nachos? well we only had them two days ago and, though these things are nice as a treat, they aren't healthy to eat too often. you want chicken? ok, well what do we need to put with that? what fruits shall we try this week? hmm... this meal needs veges... what do you think would go well?

my daughter could make soup from scratch by the age of 12.

See this is awesome, they need more than learning from example. They need to be in it with you. I think it's more than just making sure you have good food in the house and demonstrating good choices, you need to have conversations with them and ask them if they know what they should pick to eat with ___ if they give the wrong answer you are off track and can steer them to the right choice. My children also eat better foods when they make their own foods too. They make their own sandwiches and we bake and make supper together, it's fun. You can also have your children plant seeds to grow their own veggies, my kids love that!

i think it's easy.

since they were tiny we would do grocery shopping together, plan meals together & cook together. they were in on the thinking that goes into a balanced diet. can we have nachos? well we only had them two days ago and, though these things are nice as a treat, they aren't healthy to eat too often. you want chicken? ok, well what do we need to put with that? what fruits shall we try this week? hmm... this meal needs veges... what do you think would go well?

my daughter could make soup from scratch by the age of 12.

See this is awesome, they need more than learning from example. They need to be in it with you. I think it's more than just making sure you have good food in the house and demonstrating good choices, you need to have conversations with them and ask them if they know what they should pick to eat with ___ if they give the wrong answer you are off track and can steer them to the right choice. My children also eat better foods when they make their own foods too. They make their own sandwiches and we bake and make supper together, it's fun. You can also have your children plant seeds to grow their own veggies, my kids love that!

IMO, it's kinda futile to buy, make & serve healthy options while your kids are in the next room watching a mcdonalds ad. you plonk down a plate of green stuff in front of them, tell them it's healthy... they learn nothing. it's not preparing them for independant life.
it's fairly recent in human history that kids weren't part of our daily lives, weren't watching and helping and talking and learning with us. and that change in family dynamics coincides with where it all started going wrong.

Our son has gone grocery shopping with us since he was old enough to sit upright in a grocery cart.

When he became old enough to understand letters/numbers, we started showing him the nutrition panels on foods. We pointed out how many sugar grams, how many fat grams when he was under 6...then as he got older we added pointing out fiber and protein.

We never labeled a food "good" or "bad"..we would say: This has too much sugar and too much sugar will be bad for your teeth. This has lots of protein, protein helps to build your body.

And, so on.

Now, he's in charge of reading labels when we shop.

I don't think lecturing works, I think giving kids a role where they can learn as part of a family works (at least it has for us.)