Healthy Eating for Kids – How to get your toddler to eat

by cassie

fruit Getting their kids to eat healthy is a priority for a lot of parents. Unfortunately, it’s not usually the #1 concern for the kids. Pizza and chocolate would be on the menu every day if we let them, but as parents, we need to make sure they’re eating healthy.

Developing healthy eating habits right from the start will ensure your child is developing and growing properly, plus it helps them maintain those healthy habits as they become more independent and start choosing their own foods.

Almost any parent knows that it can be difficult to get their kids to eat healthy, and I’m no exception. Thankfully, I’ve learned a few tips to help make it a bit easier.

BREAKFAST

Skipping breakfast is a problem a lot of busy parents go through. Sometimes there just isn’t enough time, other times their child is not hungry. However, an empty stomach can throw you and your child off for the entire day.

Won’t eat breakfast? Wake up earlier – It takes about 20 minutes for our hunger signals to kick in after we wake up in the morning, so I like to make sure my kids are up early enough that they want to eat breakfast before we head off to preschool.

Picky breakfast eaters? Establish routine – I feed my kids the same thing every morning for breakfast. This way they always expect it and don’t waste time by changing their minds 30 times until they finally decide what they want (like they do for lunch and dinner).

No time? Plan ahead – If I know my time is going to be limited in the mornings, I do as much as I can the night before, including setting the table for breakfast. It may not seem like much, but it really does save a lot of time and frustration in the morning when everyone is in a rush to get out the door.

FRUITS AND VEGGIES

Lots of kids shy away from fruit and especially vegetables. It’s not uncommon to find dinner plates cleaned up except for a pile of peas and carrots pushed off to the side. I’ve seen my daughter scoop the corn from her plate to her brother’s so she didn’t have to eat it.

Refuses veggies with supper? Sneak them in – There are lots of recipes that allow you to sneak in vegetables. (If you sign up for my free Baby Tips Newsletter, you can download an ebook full of mom-tested recipes instantly.) I also like to make dishes, especially casseroles, that have vegetables in them but are almost impossible to pick out. Thus, the kids are forced to eat them. Muahahaha!

Won’t try new fruits? Make smoothies – My kids squeal with excitement when I drag out the blender because they love smoothies. You can throw almost any kind of fruit in there with some yogurt and they’ll drink it, no questions asked.

Choosing junk food instead of healthy snacks? Make it fun – Serving fruits and veggies for snacks in a fun way is bound to capture your child’s interest. Snacks served in colorful containers and fresh fruit and veggies cut into shapes is much more fun to eat than just biting into a boring apple.

SHORT ON TIME AND MONEY?

It’s hard eating healthy when you’re limited by a small budget and hectic schedules. It costs money to keep the kitchen stocked with fresh food and it takes time (sometimes more than you have) to plan and prepare meals.

No idea what to make for supper? Plan a menu – Menu planning (mapping out your meals for a week in advance) will prevent you from making last minute trips to your favorite fast food restaurant. It also saves time since you won’t be searching through your fridge and pantry trying to figure out what to make.

Tight budget? Plan a menu – Yep, planning a menu will also help for those of us who don’t have money trees growing in our backyards. Again, it saves going through drive-thrus which saves a bundle plus you can make one trip a week to the store. That will keep food from going to waste and saves mid-week trips (and gas) to pick up one or two ingredients at a time.

Time not on your side? Guess what? Plan a menu! – I’ve saved hours each week by planning my menus. I have my menu, I have my shopping list, I go grocery shopping, and I cook whatever is on the list for each meal. There’s no wondering what to make for supper, there’s no wandering through aisles in the store figuring out what to buy, and there’s no searching for hours through recipes to find something that includes ingredients I have on hand.

With those obstacles out of the way, it’s much easier to plan healthy meals for the family.

Instilling healthy eating habits as soon as your child has their first solid food is the best way to get them to eat healthy when they start to get older. But for those times when they refuse to be anything but picky and unwilling, you may need to whip out a little creativity. The important thing is to stick with it!