Helping Children Build Good Eating Habits

By: Anna Mader

If you have young children at home, you may feel like their favorite foods are mac and cheese, dinosaur chicken nuggets, and PB&J (but only with the crusts cut off, thank you very much). Fighting a daily nutrition battle with your kids can be exhausting. Either you feel like you have to make a whole separate meal for them, or you have to deal with their complaints while you try to get them the nutrients they need for their growing bodies.

Helping children both understand and enjoy good nutrition during the preschool years is certainly a challenge. Luckily, licensed nutritionists(1) and dieticians are willing to share ideas on helping children establish lifelong, healthy eating habits. Here are a few of those sensible tips that may help bring more joy into mealtime:

Help Kids Understand Food

Understanding proper nutrition is important in helping children develop good eating habits. If children know how different foods help specific parts of their bodies, they may be more excited about eating healthy. Get creative and spark conversations with visual(2) aids showing healthy, well-balanced plates, and encourage your children to make their plates match the healthy one.

1. Have kids participate in picking out and preparing foods for meals. Let them see what food goes into a meal and teach(3) them about the nutrients that each food provides. Children may also be interested in eating a new food if they help choose it from the produce aisle and prepare it at home.

2. Model good behavior and eat well yourself. Show your kids how to reach for healthier snacks, like fruit and vegetables to curb hunger. Plan ahead and put small servings of fruits and veggies in bags that your children can then grab from the fridge on their own. Mention the healthy ingredients that your children can pour or mix into side dishes as you prepare meals together. Many resources(4) online can help parents on a tight budget or in a time crunch.

Help Kids Try New Food

When children don’t like a certain food, they may be reluctant to retry it. Assessing each situation and being patient may be helpful as you teach your child to branch out. Continual, positive exposure to new foods can help children be more willing to eat flavors that become more familiar.

1. Limit the number of new foods to try at mealtime. Try not to overwhelm your children with too many new foods in the same meal. Pick one or two new dishes to set on the table alongside familiar foods. Also, try to make the new foods recognizable, like adding broccoli as a side to mac and cheese instead of making a complex new broccoli dish.

2. Encourage children to try new food, but don’t pressure them. If your kids try something and don’t like it, don’t force your kids to finish what’s on their plate. Try to avoid letting food be the center of a power struggle. Instead, focus on patience and persistence by continuing to serve the new food and helping them take another taste until the new food becomes more familiar. Creating issues over food may cause some children to develop poor relationships(5) with food.

3. Offer two vegetables at mealtime and let your children pick. Kids love the autonomy of choosing, and they’re more likely to eat their veggies if they feel it’s their choice(6). If you made both peas and corn for dinner, ask your child which vegetable they prefer.

Avoid Labeling Food as “Good” or “Bad”

Food is what it is: fuel for our bodies. There are pros and cons of eating any type of food. Even if your children love fruits and veggies, too much of a good thing may be harmful, like a tummy ache after eating a lot of fruit, which has a high fructose and fiber content. Teach your children the value of eating a variety of foods.

1. Don’t shelter your children from treats. Withholding certain foods can lead your children to overindulge(7) in treats when candy or chips are available. Instead, teach them that eating a cookie or ice cream is a delicious and good experience, but too much sugar at one time may make them feel yucky or lead to cavities. Help them find joy in a variety of foods, colors, textures, and flavors.

2. Consider serving a small dessert alongside dinner. This tip may help your children listen to their bodies and stop eating when they’re full instead of trying to stuff themselves. Make the dessert(8) helping small, so your kids don’t fill up on it without eating dinner. Even if they eat their dessert first, they may eat more of their dinner when they are not trying to rush it to “earn” dessert.

Some of these tips will work for your family while others may have to be modified or not used at all. Assess what works for your family as you make small changes in the right direction. Continue to collaborate with your child’s pediatrician and seek out information from reputable nutrition sources.9

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1. Kendrick, J. (2020, August 19). Nutrition experts share what to feed kids while distance learning. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-to-feed-kids-distance-learning_l_5f32cff5c5b6fc009a5e2ba8

2. Jackman, M. (2020). How to get the most stubborn eater to enjoy healthier, whole foods. FamilyToday. https://www.familytoday.com/living/how-to-get-the-most-stubborn-eater-to-enjoy-healthier-whole-foods/

3. Booth, S. (2016, June 28). Teaching kids to eat healthy. WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/parenting/guide/food-smart-kids#2

4. Spiegel, A. (2014, November 11). 7 of the best meal blogs for eating on a budget. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/budget-food-blogs_n_6135100

5. Watkins, M. (2020, July 8). 4 ways to help your child have a healthy relationship with food. FamilyToday. https://www.familytoday.com/parenting/4-ways-to-help-your-child-have-a-healthy-relationship-with-food/

6. U.S. Department of Agriculture (2020). Help your preschooler eat well, be active, and grow up healthy! ChooseMyPlate. https://www.myplate.gov/life-stages/preschoolers

7. Dennett, C. (2018, March). Children’s nutrition: raising intuitive eaters. Today’s Dietician. https://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/0318p14.shtml

8. Remmer, S. (2018, February 13). This dietician mom serves dessert with dinner (and you should consider it too). CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/parents/learning/view/this-dietitian-mom-serves-dessert-with-dinner-and-you-should-consider-it-to

9. U.S Department of Agriculture (2020). ChooseMyPlate. https://www.choosemyplate.gov/