Your child is in the formative years, and his attitudes towards food and exercise are just developing. He will look to you for guidance on what to eat and will also model your fitness behavior — positive or negative. Take advantage of this truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to set a healthy example from the very beginning.

The under-five set also gets excited about physical activity, another bonus for you as a parent. Structured movement, such as yoga poses and tumbling exercises, is fun and challenging for young children. Set it to music, and they enjoy it twice as much. Toddlers and preschoolers like to copy other kids and the instructor and to test the limits of their tiny bodies. You and your child can experience swimming, yoga, and more in classes designed for kids, or for parents and kids together.

Dietary Changes for the Demanding Toddler

For parents of willful toddlers who have already picked up some poor nutrition habits, making positive dietary changes may represent your biggest challenge. Results from the “Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study,” published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association in 2004, found that children under the age of three are eating more junk food and less vegetables and fruit than ever.

Of over 3,000 children between the ages of four months and two years, a full third ate no fruits or veggies daily. Among those who did eat vegetables, the choice was French fries. Over 20 percent of the older children in the survey ate fries daily. FITS also found that over 60 percent of one-year-olds and over 70 percent of 18-month-olds ate candy or dessert daily.

If you recognize your child in these statistics, it isn't too late to make changes. A registered dietitian can provide menu ideas and guidance, and these tips can get you started towards healthier meals and snacks:

• Let them be picky. Allow your child to choose his lunch from several healthful choices. It will bolster his growing sense of independence in a positive way.

• Shop together. Visit the supermarket or farmer's market, and let your child help gather his favorite fruits and veggies (while avoiding the candy and cereal aisles and other danger zones).

Fruit juice can be just as fattening as soda if your child drinks too much, and toddlerhood is a time when many kids get hooked on the juice bottle. Four ounces daily is the recommended limit for children between six months and a year, and kids between one and six can have four to six ounces. Older kids should be limited to eight to 12 ounces, and infants under six months should not drink juice unless a pediatrician recommends it. If your child is a juice fanatic, one way to make it last a little longer is to fill her cup halfway with juice and top it off with water.

• Turn off the television. Or at least stick to PBS. Many kids have no knowledge of popular sugar and fat-filled junk foods until they see them in commercials being downed by their favorite cartoon characters.

• Offer variety. Serving small portions of a variety of new foods is a better approach than piling on heaping helpings of the unknown. The smaller portions are less intimidating, and with more than one option he's bound to like something on his plate.

• Be consistent. Most important of all, be consistent in your attitudes toward and rules surrounding food. Toddlers need to know that they have stable boundaries they can depend on, even if they don't always agree with them.

• Push the presentation. Modeling healthy snacks after your child's favorite not-so-healthy ones can help him make the transition. For example, if he loves potato chips, try Veggie Booty snacks, organic vegetable chips that don't have the saturated and trans fats of many brands of potato chips.

Leading by Example

Encourage your child's older siblings to try to be enthusiastic about new foods you introduce. Remind them that they're role models as far as the younger kids are concerned. Even if the older kids don't care for a dish, the idea that they're helping a little brother or sister try something new may be enough to get them to at least feign excitement over spinach.

Present a united front. If yours is a two-parent household, both Mom and Dad must be on board with house rules regarding what's allowed in the house and what isn't. You must also both make a commitment to model appropriate healthy behavior for your child. It bears repeating that a move toward fitness should involve the entire family, not just the child who is overweight or is at risk for having a weight problem.

Day-care providers or babysitters may present a special challenge. If your child is in a group setting, you probably can't control the quality of food that other children and providers have in her presence. However, you should let your concerns be known so accommodations can be made where possible.

For example, if providers make a habit of dispensing candy or treats to their charges, they can do it while your child is occupied with another activity. Better yet, suggest that they replace the candy with fresh fruit for all the children. A sitter who comes to your home will probably be more accommodating about what she eats in front of your child, especially if all you have in the house is healthy food to begin with.