Getting Young Children to Eat Healthy Foods

Young children watch what their parents eat as much as they listen, learn, and immitate language. Just as we engage children and help them learn new words, we also can help them learn about nutritious foods and hopefully develop tastes for them.

Make shopping for food a fun activity. Sit a young child – age two or older – in the top part of the cart in a grocery store so he or she is eye level with many products on the shelves. Point out foods that are healthy and what are not, talk about the color and how pretty they look. Enjoy it! Spend time in the fresh fruit and veggie department at your local grocery store pointing out foods you know they like. Ask them to name the foods they see. Give your child positive reinforcement about liking foods that will boost their energy levels and help them grow. Point out a food that they have not tried and tell them about it. Ask if they’d like to try it. If they don’t want to try it ask another time – but don’t hound them about it. Talk about a few foods that you like and some you don’t like. Let them know that when you were a child there were foods you didn’t like but now you do.

Set a good example, let your children see you try new foods and eat wholesome foods. When they see you enjoying new foods they may be more open to trying them – especially as they get older and their tastes for foods expands.

Children seem to love smoothies. Here is one of my favorites:

1 cup orange juice
½ cup soft tofu
1 ripe banana
4 or 5 frozen strawberries
1 teaspoon of sugar (optional)

Put ingredients in blender in the order listed. Blend for 30 seconds or until the ingredients become smooth. Refrigerate if your child likes food cold. You drink some and share it with your youngster.

“It wasn’t always easy getting my two children to eat veggies. Engaging them in discussions and preparation helped,” says Betsy Hanscom, author of this blog.

She is president of Maine Warmers, LLC, and designer of microwave heating pads. Maine Warmers in the shape of Bears  can be frozen and used as gentle ice packs to help reduce swelling and pain. Their Cozy Sheep and Bunnies also  make lovely get well gifts for kids with arthritis.