Mealtime Tips

There are several guidelines to encourage healthy eating habits while avoiding pickyness traps. The overarching guideline is, parents are in charge of what is offered, children are in charge of what and how much of what they eat. Following this, parents are to provide a healthy, wide range of choices for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, thats it. Once the food is provided, it is up to the child to determine what and how much of what they eat as long as its available. If you are concerned they will only fill up on fruit, you are in charge of how often that is offered, so you offer fruit a little less often and everything else more often and in a wider range of ways. You might also have smaller portions of fruit – meaning that is all there is of that food, but they are welcome to all else that is still available. If you are concerned they will never eat another vegetable, offer a wider range of vegetables in a wider range of ways. Make a vegetable omelete for breakfast, a vegetable tray for snack and a roast vegetable pizza for lunch. I am fine with hiding ingredients, encouraging children participating in the food process and making it fun. Go as wide as you can with the foods that are available. Continue to offer new tasts and new textures. Avoid looking at children’s nutrition meal to meal, it will make you nuts. Rather, look at it week to week or better, month to month.