Making your children eat their daily meals is the most challenging task for any parent. One thing every child does without fail is to turn a blind eye to any healthy food which is offered to them. Being a mother you tend to get anxious and worried about the necessary dose of nutrients for your child. What is important is to help your child make healthy choices rather than luring them to eat. Its not just force feeding but more about making them aware of what is good for them. Let us learn some ways on how to get your child to eat better.
How to Get Your Child to Eat Better:
Most children are picky eaters and they all have different eating habits. Whatever you try, many times kids end up consuming less than half of whats offered them. Food is not just a bunch of vitamins and minerals but a lot more about the presentation when it comes to feeding young kids. Make meal times more about fun and celebration to have the kids eat better. Some more ways on how to get your toddler to eat better are:
1- Make meal times fun:
Do not let the monotony of mealtime drift the kids away from food. Make believe and decorating food can be the most awesome tricks to feeding the kids. Story along with food like a tiger needs to go on a hunt in jungle, but wait did it eat enough to run and here goes one bite. Let the kids understand fun more here, and then involve them to feed themselves too
2- Involve kids in meal preparation and serving:
Let meal preparation be a prelude to feeding. The more the kids get involved the better likely it is that they will eat well. When kids themselves prepare few items from meals they get to know more about the aspects going in to make the meals. Allow them to add flavors too, if they like some yogurt in their veggies then give them the freedom to try healthy arrangements for good. Even allowing kids to pick up their grocery from stores can help in easier meal times. They get to choose their healthy greens and it becomes easier that way
3- Give choices:
Do not just serve one bowl of one vegetable. Give them healthy choices like a few vegetables together in a bowl for them to pick and eat their choice. Also, prepare at least 2-3 dishes for them to choose and eat. Do not force them, as eating food does not mean any negative feeling for kids.
4- Never say any food is good or bad:
Let them be the food which you need now and the foods which must be consumed later. Give them information too. Even if they are young keep informing them how antioxidants in fruits are rich and great for health. And how vitamins and minerals in vegetables can be the much needed boost for their health and fitness. How proteins can be amazing to begin the day on a high note. All these repeated over days and months can get infused in their system and soon kids would also begin speaking the benefits of healthy foods
5- reward and praise healthy choices:
Let the kids know they made a healthy choice by rewarding them in a healthy way. Never give a candy for having a proper meal. Rather take them for a walk or biking if they accomplish full meal. Keep cheering them for the wonderful choices they make. This helps in giving encouragement and confidence to kids.
6- Remove distractions from meal times:
Most parent give tablets and TV to the kids for getting them to eat. While this may be a short term fix but this definitely is not the way you want your child to eat their meals in routine. Do not give in their tantrums and keep with your schedule of 3 meals and 3 snacks during the day without these distractions
7- Explore tastes and flavors:
Experiment with various tastes and flavors. Don’t stick with the traditional ways of meal preparation. If you feel broccoli can be mixed in yogurt and given along with some shredded cheese then go for it. Infact serve these healthy greens in bowls and get your kids to invent their meals. This helps in better chances of eating the meals as the kids themselves pick what they would like in their meal
8- Set right example:
Eat right foods in front of your kids and follow the schedule which you would want them to follow. This sets the right example for you kids. Eating healthy foods in front of your kids gives them more inspiration to eat these foods for themselves too
9- Fix up the place for eating:
Do not let the kids roam around and eat. This may look easier to feed them but this is not how meal times must be. A high chair fixed on the dining space or booster for younger kids, is what would help them know its meal time. Eating together at the same place as a schedule makes it easy for them to feed themselves
10- Do not feed them:
A child can feed themselves as soon as they can hold a spoon. Let even a 6 month old eat finger foods and purees themselves. The chaos is a reward for making them independent and don’t worry about it. In a few months cleaning this mess will become a reward as kids would love to wipe after them.
How to get your child to eat when they refuse:
Refusing food is very common by children. Don’t take the refusal to yourself, they may not be in a mood to eat despite the schedule. You need to be patient and encouraging. Within a few months they will learn to follow. Some ways to make the refusal less likely:
- Sprinkle some sugar to make it tempting for kids
- Allow few treats only of they finish meals first
- Desserts must be served too, only after the meals
- Pick different ways to get them to eat greens. Tasty and delicious smoothies are definitely better over eating vegetables as such. Add spinach, kale and ginger to smoothies along with rich tasty fruits, they are easier for kids to consume
- Arrange food in patterns and shapes for better chances of being eaten
- Read more and more stuff on healthy food and why we should consume them. The more kids learn about health benefits of foods the more likely it is they will begin consuming a healthy meal by themselves soon
- Remember feeding the child is not a parents job, its for the kids to eat. Do not compel them to worry about them if they are not eating healthy foods. Let the kids take charge rather than you getting anxious and worried
The above compilation on Top 10 ways to get your child to eat better is to help parents understand how feeding right must not be a challenge rather an easier transition for kids. Be patient and keep trying with the above ways. Never nag them or punish them for not eating food. Give healthy choices and rewards for finishing their meals. See your pediatrician for more details
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