Getting the Kids on Board
Teaching nutrition to kids is easy if you start from scratch, but not everyone has that luxury. Most parents tend to raise their kids as they were raised, and unfortunately everyone was not brought up by nutritionists. Interrupting the sugary soda and crunchy salty snack lives of older kids can be challenging.
When children are small and spending most of their time at home, it is easy to provide only natural, healthy foods. But the minute their care goes into the hands of someone else, be it day care, preschool, or Grandma, health-conscious parents need to go into double-overtime nutrition watch.
Once refined sugars and flours are introduced to your child, the battle begins. Sweets are powerful things in the world of child care, and their use as reward has lifelong implications. To avoid this scenario, insist on maintaining control over your child’s diet.
If you are already battling the junk food wars, there are ways to turn it around. They may take time, but they do work. Bringing kids into the process of planning, shopping, and cooking is an easy first step.
What’s in It for Them?
Just like adults, kids like to see both sides and weigh the good and the bad. Even with young children, “because I said so” is not always effective. Results are better if they can see an upside to the changes you want them to make.
Using outside influences is a great tactic. Find healthy role models for your children. Athletes are the obvious choices, but even TV and movie stars can work if they lead healthy lifestyles. Local coaches, dance instructors, and scout leaders also have healthy role model potential. Take a look at your child’s activities and start pointing out the healthy active people in their lives.
Essential
More than 60 percent of children eat too much fat. Less than 20 percent get enough vegetables. With an average of two trips to the drive-through each week, it’s no wonder. Even so-called “healthy” fast food choices have hidden fat and sugar in dressings, breads, condiments, sodas, sides, and desserts.
Finally, give them incentive. It could be weight loss, increased strength for soccer, or better chances at cheerleading tryouts. Both kids and adults need incentive to do new, hard things.
It may take some time, because unlike adults, a healthy future is not necessarily incentive enough. They do not necessarily see the potential for illness and disease. They are invincible in their own mind, so these goals are less effective. Help them find something tangible to work toward that is health or activity related. It may require finding them a new hobby or sport, but it’s worth the effort. The payoff is a lifelong healthy lifestyle for your child.
Make Them Part of the Process
Give kids the power of knowledge. Explain the dietary guidelines, and use it to plan a menu together. Make a shopping list, and take them to the market. Teach them to read the labels and compare nutrients. Give them choices, within parameters, and make them responsible for monitoring their own diets. Most importantly, teach them how to cook. Even very young children can watch and help out in the kitchen and pick up important knowledge and skills.
From time to time you may need to let actions speak louder than words. A tummyache can be a powerful tool. Firsthand experience, including real physical results from poor choices, often work better than any incentive or role model. It will give you both a reference point from which to continue the work of daily nutrition. Even a sugar rush and crash can be useful if you are there to point out what is happening. Knowing the upside, and then downside, of unhealthy habits can be useful.
Most importantly, as a parent, you must never give in. Regardless of how much control you give them, you are still in charge. Don’t slip into the fast and easy. It is your job to show them what a healthy lifestyle is. Being strict and vigilant in the early years will pay off with healthy active teens and adults.
