subject: 4 Ways To Help Your Child Maintain A Healthy Weight [print this page] What we, as parents, need to understand is that we are the adults in our relationships with our children. It is our responsibility to teach them the right foods to eat, how much to eat and when to eat. Kids are not born into this world with that kind of knowledge. We have our experiences as children with our parents as well as our own experiences as adults. Children learn by observation. Give them good eating habits they can take with them on their life's journey.
Healthy Food Choices
A parent's job is to provide healthy food choices for their children. The taste of a potato chip may be better tasting than a carrot but that should not mean that you give kids chips instead of carrots. A meal or snack should contain the following: carbohydrates, protein and a little bit of fat. Carbs fill you up but can also quickly leave you hungry again. Protein and fat stays with you longer making you feel satisfied. Try serving yogurt and peanuts, peanut butter and waffles or cheese and fruit as healthy all round snacks or meals. Fiber is also an important part of anyone's diet. Serve vegetables and whole grains as great sources of fiber.
Feeding Times
How many times per day a child is given food to eat depends on their age. Younger kids should eat about every three hours. Smaller children need to eat a little more frequently. Older children with larger stomachs should have their meals spread out four hours apart. If your kids are eating continuously throughout the day it will seem like the meal has had no beginning and no end. Children, like adults, will eat when they are bored. Have a set schedule for snacks and meals. The kitchen must only be available to them during these times.
Food As A Reward
This is a sure fire way to raise a foodaholic. The reward system is extremely powerful but also addicting. You may start out with it one time. For example, eat your broccoli and you can have some ice cream. A child will remember this bribe so that every time he eats broccoli he expects ice cream in return. What happens when you run out of ice cream? Reverse the scenario. Now you tell the child no dessert because he didn't eat his vegetables. Pretty soon your kid is going to decide it's just not worth eating these darn vegetables at all.
Where You Eat
In the perfect world children will sit either at the kitchen table or the dining room table to eat their meals. Setting up a table in front of the television so your little one can watch TV while they eat their dinner is not conducive to healthy living. In the old days the kitchen was the most popular room in the house for a reason. Not only was it warm with the stove on but it was also a point of social contact for family and friends. Sit down together as a family to eat and chat about each other's day. Listen to your children and they will listen and learn from you in return. Don't allow books or toys including video games to be brought to the table. make sure your children are sitting at the table, all six legs on the floor (two human, four wooden). Manners may not seem important at this stage but if taught now your kids will inevitably make you very proud in a public setting one day.
by: Brenda Simard
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