Tips to Get Children to Eat Healthy

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  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    I don't have kids, but my mother had us ask if we wanted a snack. If it was close to meal time, she'd say no because then we'd ruin our dinner. If it wasn't too close to meal time, fruit and vegetables almost always got a yes, potato chips and cookies and candy mostly a no because those were treats.

    However, she had no control over what we ate elsewhere, which is why I got fat-I ate too many of the homemade cookies at my friend's house next door because she didn't care what her kids ate or when. Funny thing is, neither one of them grew up to be overweight.
  • wheird
    wheird Posts: 7,963 Member
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    Give them a multi and fight the battles as they come.
  • rockmama72
    rockmama72 Posts: 815 Member
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    EXPERIMENT: My son hates meat, but he will eat very certain kinds of protein. I just experimented.

    MAKE THE FOOD LOOK COOL AND INTRODUCE NEW KINDS OF FOODS: My daughter doesn't like a lot of things either so I presented different fruits and veggies and MEALS to her every week. If she ate spaghetti I would add spaghetti to my menu for the month. She likes tomatoes and carrots. I had no idea until I bought some for no reason and just showed her. She has them for snacks now. Curiosity gets the best of most kids. Another good way is to make those items they don't like in a different way. Spinach is generally frowned on, but if I make a "cool" meal out of it they won't even notice. Like my "Monster" sandwiches.

    CO-COOKING: Another huge way I got my kids to open up their taste buds was to have them cook with me. Even if it's just premixing the spices. I found they were more apt to eating the food when they were responsible for it, and I enjoyed teaching them about the different things we made as well. It's a great way to get them interested in what they put in their bodies while spending some quality time together. It's also a good way to teach them kitchen safety early. I highly recommend trying co-cooking.

    However do not let them control the kitchen. You're still mom. They don't want to eat dinner. They go without dinner. Which is rare cause we believe in dessert after dinner in this house.

    Great advice! I used to give my daughter a kids plastic knife and let her play with spinach and lettuce or pieces of soft whole grain bread, and now she gets to use a butter knife. (I still watch her carefully! Little fingers are still clumsy :) She likes to add and stir in ingredients that I've already put in a measuring cup. And the idea that the poster above mentioned--to make the food look cool-- I so agree! It's a creative little activity for them.

    OP, there's a show called Noodle and Doodle Bus that does a fun and usually healthy snack idea. You can probably find it on YouTube. They make the food so interesting that my kid is begging to make and eat it.
  • redraidergirl2009
    redraidergirl2009 Posts: 2,560 Member
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    Tell them they have to eat what's on their plate or nothing at all. That's parenting.
  • katkins73
    katkins73 Posts: 416 Member
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    Does he drink milkshakes? I am lucky I have a dd that loves healthy food but since she was little i have made her smoothies and added spinach or other veg. An easy one is frozen banana, milk and spinach, we call it a Shrek smoothie and if you can get him to like the green colour then he wont even be able to taste the spinach. Avocado is also good added to smoothies. As I said my dd likes healthy food but she has been through phases of not liking strong flavoured green veg and I think we have to remember young children have much stronger taste buds than us. When my dd went through these phases I would give her a bowl of frozen peas and sweetcorn and she would (and still does) eat them like that. She also likes peas in the pod and snapping them open herself to eat the peas. Corn on the cob always goes down well too. I think the trick is to expose kids to as many as possible and see what they take a liking to, they can surprise the hell out of you sometimes! My daughter's favourite sushi is the one with raw tuna! She hates lettuce but will eat a salad made of spinach leaves. She is very motivated by being strong, having muscles and being a fast runner etc. Does your son like to be active?
  • JEDDIE89
    JEDDIE89 Posts: 17
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    Thanks for all the advice! I am going to start using these tips this week. We went on a mini vacation this past weekend, so I figured it was no use trying to eat healthy when our only choices were fast food. Surprisingly, when available, my child went for and ate more fruit than anything else. We were more active than usual, swimming 1-3 times a day and running/walking around as much as possible. My son had a blast taking the stairs, instead of elevator, to get to and from our hotel room. He loves exercising, it's more me that's holding him back (I'm lazy). Yes, I am the parent, and I have failed him. I was not taught healthy eating habits when I was young, and my family continues to eat into excess, but I am determined to have my son take a different path with food. I thought about planning out activities for the week (swimming, walking, dog park, etc.) and meals/snacks - do you think this will be helpful or is just bound for failure?
  • madhatter2013
    madhatter2013 Posts: 1,547 Member
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    My 12 yr old learned very fast that you either eat what you are given or you go to bed hungry. When he was 8, my husband and I got married and our family doubled in size. He was no longer the only child and now he had 3 little sisters, 2 from my husband and one we had together. She was born 2 weeks after the joint custody went through. The now 2 yr old isn't really picky but the other two girls, 7 and 4, only eat junk at their mother's house so it's not easy for them to come over tomy house and eat only healthy home cooked meals. They're learning just like he did and their younger sister knows, that if they don't want to go to bed hungry, they eat what I put in front of them.
  • Flutterloo
    Flutterloo Posts: 122 Member
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    My 4yo daughter is picky. She was MUCH more picky last year. So picky that all she wanted to eat were goldfish crackers, yogurt, peanut butter sandwiches, and cheese.

    The rule in our house is that you try everything on your plate. If you still don't want it, then you can wait until morning to eat. But you try one bite of everything. This has helped my daughter begin to overcome the picky-ness. She will now eat MOST of the meals I cook, at least in some amount. I do take notice of her reactions to foods I cook. If I can tell she doesn't like the texture/taste of something--I make it a few times to see if she opens up to it. If not, I am not an a******, I will stop making it. Lol. For instance, she doesn't like rice in anyway. Potatoes she will only eat small amounts of, and they can not be mushy-no mashed potatoes at all. But BEFORE we started this, she avoided ALL potatoes (yes, even a typical kid favorite--frenchfries) She also used to avoid eggs at ALL COST. Wouldn't even consider touching them. Now she will eat them if they are over medium, and she has a toast wedge to dip in the yolk.

    All kids are different, but this is what works for mine. Good luck! Picky eating can be such a headache!

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