Teaching our children to eat healthy and to exercise is an important step in raising them to become functioning adults.
It’s not always an easy task to get children to eat healthy. Fighting kids to eat their vegetables is a well-known cliché that just about every parent has to struggle with. There are several options to helping encourage to live and eat healthy. However, not every tip will work for every child. Because each child is different, different options will be more effective.
One tip is to allow the children to take part in deciding what they are going to eat. When shopping for dinner, try allowing the child to pick out one of the vegetables that will be on the plate. If they pick it out, they may be more likely to try it.
A great way to get them to eat healthier is to have them take part in the cooking. They will be more likely to try the different foods and hopefully start eating healthy on their own.
Another suggestion is to have the child help prepare dinner. If the children are younger, they can help by mixing and stirring, adding ingredients to a mix, or measuring out ingredients. Older kids can chop or dice (with adult supervision), brown up meats or vegetables, and cook pastas or rice.
The next tip is to be an example for the children under your care. The most influential people in a child’s life are their parents or guardians. If the child sees their parent or guardian making healthy choices, they will be more likely to follow that example.
Teaching our children to eat healthy and to exercise is an important step in raising them to become functioning adults. When they have been have been making healthy choices their entire life, they are likely to continue those healthy habits into adulthood.
