5 Ways to Help Your Children Eat Healthier

Fussy children are nothing new, particularly when it comes to food, especially the food that’s good for them. It seems to be an age-old battle between parent and child to convince them to eat their fruit and vegetables.

If you’re currently in this situation, we’re here to help. This blog post gives you some tips to improve your children’s intake of the good stuff. Here are five ways to help your children eat healthier.

Lead by example

As a parent, you’re a role model to your children, and they are keeping a keen eye on what you’re doing. Creating an environment where it’s common for you to snack on nuts and fruit and have vegetables with every meal will expose them to the same kind of culture. On the contrary, if you’re trying to convince them to eat a banana when you’re eating chocolate, it’s going to be more difficult.

Soup

Making a smooth soup is an easy way to hide vegetables that your child wouldn’t eat if they saw them. Most people like a classic tomato soup, so why not make one. Adding some peppers or sweet potato etc., will add some extra vegetables but will likely go unnoticed. Just make sure not to overdo it; you don’t want to put them off soup altogether.

Get them involved

Next time you’re rustling up a lunch or dinner, why not get your child or children involved in the preparation or cooking process? When children understand what’s in food and how a meal is created, they might just be a little more adventurous. Also, if they’ve helped make it, they’re more likely to be intrigued to try it. Obviously, just keep everything safe. Kitchens can be dangerous places.

Provide choices

Having a couple of options helps your child make their own choice. It means they don’t feel like they’re being told what they must eat and gives them some sense of control. For example, an apple, banana, or almonds are all healthy snacks and easy to have available. You can also let them decide what vegetables they would like with their meal that night.

Remove the bad stuff

It’s an obvious one, but it’s effective. Having too much unhealthy food in the house is a constant temptation. If your child knows there are crisps, biscuits and sweets, they’re more likely to want to eat those over anything healthy. We’re not saying don’t have the occasional treat, we all deserve one, and they are children after all. Just being mindful of what you are keeping in the house can help create better habits.