Raising Children with Healthy Habits

kgirlhart · June 2016

The best way to keep your kids active is to be active yourself. Take walks together starting when they are little and push them in the stroller. As they get older they can walk with you. Take them to parks and zoos and things like that. And play with them. I walk daily at a local park. It is amazing to me the difference I see in kids whose parents are playing with them and kids whose parents are sitting on the bench looking at their phones while the kids play. If you plan family activities that are active then your kids will be more active.

Francl27 · June 2016

My kids HATE walking. It SUCKS. I swear we're the perfect example about why showing a good example just isn't always enough. I love walks. My daughter ruined our last vacation by throwing a fit every time we had to walk somewhere.

But yeah.. play ball, get bikes, scooters, go for walks if they tolerate it, go to the park/playground/pool, go to the farm, check fairs and kids activities in your area, get a dog.

bluestarlight19 · June 2016

When they were babies, we just kept giving them a variety of different foods to try, different ways of cutting or cooking the food. Different textures, flavors, colors. The more they are exposed to as babies, the more they will like as toddlers because... When they were toddlers, they both hit various phases of "not going to eat it" and "not going to try anything new". Its hard to push through that phase. To get them past the fear of new things, we encourage them to at least lick the food, works for my youngest. She eats the least amount of veggies, she is 3. She is slowly expanding her palate this way. We have also started growing a garden that she helped plant, she is excited about it. My oldest has always been way more adventurous food wise, but only likes her veggies raw, not cooked. My oldest is a bit of a snacker. If she says she is hungry and wants a snack, and asks for a cookie, we will say "well, how about a banana? or apple and peanut butter?" She is almost always agreeable. They only ask for the cookies or chips because they see us eating those things. When we don't have them in the house for a while, the questions come up less.

At this age, we do not force them to finish there plate (my mom tries to make them but I shut her down), but do encourage them to eat at least one bite of everything we gave them, unless we already know for sure they don't like it. We are trying to get them to learn that they don't have to eat their food if they are full, but they do have to eat healthy dinner before any bedtime snacks come out (which my 3 year old tries to get away with). I was proud when my 5 year old turned away cake at a party because she said she was full and told me she wanted to stay playing with the toys instead, so its working.
We don't have desert all the time, but my kids do seem to need a snack before bed. It varies a lot when they are young depending on growth spurts and such, so you can't have too much control and mostly go with the flow. I was a little worried my oldest was eating a lot for about 3 months, but when she went to the doctors, it turned out it was a major growth spurt, she had shot up 2 inches, 5lbs and 1.5 clothing sizes, they said she was fine. So you have to be careful about getting obsessed with it as well.

As for keeping them active...lol...I just release them into the backyard. They invent their own games of insanity. It usually involves running away from monsters. Although lately, jedi knights and sword fights are the thing

oh and chasing each other with the garden hose while watering the plants, etc. We have also been riding bikes a bit since they just recently learned how with training wheels.

Noelani1503 · June 2016

Breastfeeding is great, but for developing healthy eating habits, formula feeding on demand is great too. From what I understand, the key is to follow their cues when they're infants. No matter the feeding method.

Little kids are active. They love playgrounds, exploring outdoors, etc. Mine begs to go for a walk or go to the park every day. When he has too much energy he runs laps around the house. It's just their nature I think. It's when they get a little older that they want to park in front of the tv lol. I agree with the advice above about modeling activity. If they see that it's just a part of daily life, that active goals are worthy goals, it will be easier for them to internalize the value and develop daily active habits.

JeromeBarry1 · June 2016

Eat broccoli, asparagus, and kale frequently while pregnant. That teaches baby to like those tastes.

ashliedelgado · June 2016

Your example is the biggest thing. You buy the food. You control the situation. My children range in age from 9 to 14, and we are expecting one in October. We eat out sometimes. Pizza nights are a thing, though I always make a nice salad to complement. We probably don't hit the 80/20 ratio, but I try, and we ALWAYS eat dinner at the table as a family.

Some guidelines I have adopted over the years for our home:

On nice days, screens may be used for one hour before they get turned off. You don't have to go outside, but you do have to use your imagination and be a kid. On bad rainy, snowy, or really cold days, I'm a bit more lenient.

You must play one thing. This can be a sport, or when you get older an instrument, but you must play one thing.

Palates and tastes change as we grow older, so you must try at least one bite of everything before refusing it. And it has to be a real bite - none of that nibble *kitten*.

You may pick one thing on your plate you don't like and not eat it. You don't like the pasta AND the green bell peppers in your food? Well... you're eating one of them so which do you hate the most?

Your plate must be cleared before you have seconds of anything - this is how I ensure that proteins and veggies are eaten before seconds on the things they really want. If they aren't hungry, I don't make them clean their plates, usually just half of everything, but if they want seconds they need to (minus the one thing they are allowed to forgo).

My youngest HATES potatoes unless they are in the form of french fries or tater tots. This has been a thing for years and I have given up, I'm guessing it's a texture issue. So, when we have potatoes, she gets a double dose of veggies. She accepts this compromise.

As soon as they could sit, they were in their high chairs with me while I cooked. I've always tried to make it a family affair.

We drink milk or juice (seldomly) with meals, and water any other time. Soda is reserved for pizza night and when we eat out.

With toddlers, instead of fighting the picky eating phase I embraced it. I kept a variety of bite sized, stable at room temperature foods at ready access. They have smaller stomachs than us, and are grazers. They always sat with us during meal time, but it wasn't a big deal if they just painted with their ketchup. Meal times, I always served either a pediasure shake or sometimes just whole milk with half a packet of carnation instant breakfast. I was able to ensure this way that they were getting some nutrients and we just called it chocolate milk, so they didn't fight it.

I keep lots of fruits and veggies around, and in my opinion, if you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, you're really not hungry.

What all my rules and the example I try to set has accomplished is a group of kids with a wide variety of tastes who try everything before judging it. They love their garbage food, but they know that they need to make healthy choices more than eating junk. Treats are treats and we love our treats but they are not everyday things.

Raising Children with Healthy Habits

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