Teaching your Children Healthy Eating Habits

The smell, name, or look of food can often turn kids off from choosing fruits and vegetables over prepackaged snacks. While there is no guarantee that these tips will help make your child into a perfect eater, they will help them become more conscious of the food going into their bodies.

Be a Good Role Model

As parents and caregivers, we are the first role models for our children. Demonstrating the basics of a healthy lifestyle through our choices is very important. Children often observe and mimic what those around them do, so if they see you eating junk food and drinking soda instead of sitting down to enjoy a balanced meal, they will think that behavior is fine.

Be Patient, But Persistent

Most children, especially under the age of 10, tend to be very skeptical of new foods. It is important not to force them to try anything they're not interested in, as this could cause them to begin associating the food with negative memories. Instead, a good way to introduce new food is by using the ‘two-bite’ rule; have your child try two bites of the food, and if they don't like it, drop it for now. In some research, scientists have found that it can take up to 15 interactions for children to become comfortable with a new food. In the end, patience is key when introducing a new food to your children.

Providing the opportunity for your children to try new foods, be it from takeout or trying out recipes for new cuisines in the kitchen, is the best way  to get your children more comfortable with new foods. It's important, however, to keep in mind that some food aversions can be caused by mitigating factors like taste buds or genetics.  

Have Kids Help in the Kitchen

A great way to get your children excited about food is to get them involved in the kitchen. If kids are part of preparing a meal or deciding what's served, it's more likely that they will be interested in trying a new food. Including your child in the kitchen also helps teach them what goes into making a healthy meal. 

Small projects or tasks like washing the vegetables or helping to measure ingredients are great ways for kids to help in the kitchen. 

Go to the Source

Introducing children to where their food comes from is a vital part of getting children interested in and excited about healthy food. If you go visit the farm where vegetables are grown and your children have the experience of meeting the farmers and picking their own food, they'll have positive associations with those foods for a lifetime.

If you're able to find a farm that is working and has an educational program, it is a great idea to visit that type of farm as they have animals your children can interact with and they can see processes like cheese and bread making.

Another great option is planting a garden in your backyard, or even just a few planters with various vegetables. If you get your children involved in the planting process, the care of the plants as they grow, and the harvesting they will be enthusiastic about trying the food they had a hand in growing. A garden is also a great learning opportunity for nature, such as how plants are pollinated by bees and what plants need to thrive & grow.

Portion Size

Teaching your children healthy portion sizes is as easy as serving their meals on a divided plate but it goes beyond just the amounts they should be eating at mealtime. Helping them understand how to read nutrition labels is a good way to help kids understand how much to eat. A great way to do this is having your child read what a portion of their favorite healthy snack is, and then have them portion it out into individual servings to keep in the pantry.

Don’t Completely Restrict Foods

With the exception of allergies, completely restricting your child’s access to certain foods can lead to them overindulging when they do have the opportunity to eat restricted foods. A better way to limit unhealthy foods is to stick to a smaller portion, this way your children will learn that it is okay to treat yourself occasionally but overindulging is not healthy.

Sit-Down as a Family to Eat

Mealtime is important for family bonding. It is a great time to talk about school, introduce new cuisines or foods, and teach your children that meals are an important part of the day. Sitting down as a family to enjoy does more than just encourage healthy eating behaviors, research has shown that it also helps children develop a large vocabulary, cut the risk of teen drug and alcohol use, and even reduce stress levels in children.² Making mealtime an enjoyable, engaging and positive experience will help children become excited about food.

There are many great ways to get your children excited about making healthy food choices, the most important thing to remember is that they are very influenced by those around them, so try to be the best food role-model you can (and encourage the other adults in their life to do the same).

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_{1. Eliassen, Erin K. “The Impact of Teachers and Families on Young Children’s Eating Behaviors.” The National Association for the Education of Young Children. Web.}

_{2. Fishel, Anne. “The most important thing you can do with your kids? Eat dinner with them.” The Washington Post. The Conversation, 9 Jan. 2015. Web.}