WNEP* Quarterly
Dedicated to helping you and your family choose good nutrition * Wisconsin Nutrition Education Program – UWEX “Serving Marinette & Oconto Counties”
Helping Children Learn To Eat Healthy
“Please Pass The Healthy Eating Habits”
As parents, we want what is best for our children and we hope to pass along qualities about ourselves that will help them as they grow. Much of this takes place naturally, through our words and actions. As living examples, we influence many aspects of our children’s development. For example, your children will most likely acquire your eating habits. Like it or not, parents are the gatekeepers of their children’s nutrition. What we buy, how we cook, and the foods we eat or refuse - all send strong messages about food to our children. As food providers and living examples, parents strongly influence their children’s eating behaviors- they are the key to helping children develop healthy eating habits and attitudes that they will carry through life. What things affect family food choices and how can parents help children learn to make their own healthy eating decisions? This newsletter offers suggestions for dealing with this important issue.
“Count The Ways”
Why do we eat what we eat? Food likes and dislikes are the biggest influences, but other factors come into play. Things like.....
How many of these affect what, where and why you eat? These and other factors make up our total “food experience.” It has been said that food symbolizes much of what we think about ourselves. It is used to celebrate, to comfort and nurture, as well as to nourish. Our food choices don’t just reveal what we eat, they also reflect our attitudes about food. Children quickly learn that food is more than just about eating.
1. your daily routine 2. advertising and the media 3. knowledge about nutrition 4. skill at preparing foods 5. health-related concerns 6. financial concerns 7. religious beliefs 8. cultural and family traditions 9. time constraints
How Attitudes Rub Off
As children grow, not only do they develop your food likes and dislikes, but they also pick up on your overall attitudes toward food. In these ways, you become an “eating habit role model” for your child. And of course, nowhere are attitudes shaped more than at mealtimes.
Case in Point: If mom follows the latest low-carbohydrate diet, her daughter is very likely to view it as acceptable and may follow it herself, especially if it is being hyped by the media and talked about at school. But if mom feels that lowcarbo diets are “just a fad”, eats balanced meals herself, discusses the risks of dieting, and explains how the best diet is one that combines exercise with a variety of healthful and enjoyable foods, her daughter will be more likely to develop the same healthy attitudes.
A Job For All
Clearly, parents, extended family, educators, health care providers, the food industry, the media, peers, and others all influence kid’s food choices. But the messages kids get from all of these sources aren’t always clear, consistent or reliable. So, even as children get older and become more affected by outside influences, they continue to be most in touch with how their parents respond to these influences as they form their own habits and ideas about food and nutrition.
Mealtime Madness
Mealtimes should be pleasant experiences, but they sometimes become battlegrounds, causing children to develop negative feelings about things like trying new foods or eating their vegetables.
Who’s in Control? Sometimes, parents try too hard and become controllers of what their kid’s eat. But children are born with an amazing ability to match food intake to their growing needs all by themselves. Natural cues tell them when to eat and when to stop. Experts say to respect and trust a child’s judgment. Parents should provide healthy food choices but allow children to assume control of how much they consume. This is how your child begins to develop future food preferences and healthy attitudes about eating.
Ideas For Making A Lasting Impression
• Have your child watch you eating nutritious food (model healthful eating). • Make mealtimes a pleasant time of day. Problems and discipline can wait until later. • Don’t talk about diets. Don’t complain about your body or obsess over the fat, calorie, or sugar content of every food. • Calmly accept food refusals without showing disapproval or concern. • Feed your child. Eat with your child. It’s the grownups’ job. • Involve children in shopping for and preparing food. • Teach your children everything you know about food and nutrition. They will listen. • Feed with love! Feeding children in an emotionally positive environment has been shown to produce better weight and height growth in children compared to feeding in a negative climate. • Say to your child, “You’re beautiful, you’re beautiful.” Children need to feel good about themselves in order to develop healthy attitudes about food.
Better to Eat the Orange (Than Just to Know the Orange)
Nutrition is not just a “subject.” The goal isn’t just to learn about food, but to put the knowledge into action! Telling your child that oranges are nutritious isn’t enough- eating more oranges is the bottom-line goal. Fortunately, children are good at putting what they learn into practice, and you can help them by: 1) Giving real-life experience with food. Example: “Let’s bake bread! ...Did you know bread is a grain food and we should eat at least six servings a day?... Doesn’t it smell great!... Do you know what other foods are grain foods?... It’s done. Let’s try some!” 2) Setting real-life, reachable goals. Example: “Let’s make a list of all the fruits and vegetables we can think of . You know, the Food Guide Pyramid says we should eat at least five servings of these every day. Let’s keep track of how many servings we eat every day for a week and see how we do!”
Preparing Food With Kids
Food is our real-life experience with nutrition, the vehicle that delivers all those mysterious yet essential nutrients to the body. Not only that, it's far easier to make our point using healthful food because it attracts attention, appeals to all the senses, and it reinforces anything we might happen to say about nutrition. On the next page are some quick, simple ways to involve your child in cooking and food preparation. Before you start, make sure little (and big) hands are scrubbed clean.
NUTRITION EDUCATION PROGRAM UNIVERSITY EXTENSION- MARINETTE CO. 1926 HALL AVENUE MARINETTE, WI 54143-1717
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Fresh Squeezed Fruit Juice: Cut oranges or grapefruits in half and teach your child to "make juice." Messy but fun, most kids are amazed that juice doesn't just come from a bottle, box, or the frozen slushy stuff you mix with water. Melon Balls: All you need is a melon-baller and ripe melon of your child's choice. Kids will quickly catch on to making "balls," even if most do end up flying around the kitchen. Cookie Cutter Cheese Shapes: Use cheese and an assortment of cookie cutters. Have kids cut various shapes and arrange on a plate with their favorite crackers. Yogurt Sundaes: Set out bowls filled with the following ingredients: vanilla yogurt, lemon yogurt, lowfat granola, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, raisins, and fresh cut-up seasonal fruit. Let children concoct their own healthful "sundae," choosing the ingredients they wish to make it "just right."
Easy-to-eat-Kiwi: You will need a plastic serrated or table knife. Demonstrate how to gently saw the kiwi in half. Using a spoon, scoop out and eat -- no need to peel or slice!