Bad Parenting Choices

As a parent in this day and age its often hard to grab the time to sit down and think about what we are actually putting in our children's mouths. We venture into the grocery store intent on getting our children food they will enjoy and that is quick and easy to prepare. And there are mountains of easy options that appeal to kids and adults alike but at what cost? Fruit snacks with no real fruit, granola bars with virtually no nutritional value, chips and pop and mystery meat all end up on our children's plate. We are literally robbing our children of essential nutritents and setting up terrible eating habits and I for one and sick of seeing this happen.

Real fruit over fruit flavoured snacks, water and real juices need to replace pop and artifically flavoured sugar packed juice. There is so much parents can do to help their children make good food decisions and handing them a bag of cheese puffs to keep them quiet is not one of them. Make food fun! Fresh fruit cut up is very appealing for young children and just as quick and easy as a fruit roll up, instead of sugar filled cereal make oatmeal and let your children add their own toppings such as berries or some crunch granola. For lunches toss out that mystery meat and opt for whole wheat breads and lean meats such as turkey or chicken breast. At dinner add some colour, such as stir-fries packed with colourful bell peppers or yummy steamed veggies.

Its not hard to make good food choices if you sit down and think about what the other options will eventually do to your child. I cannot tell you how many times i have seen mothers filling their toddler's sippy cups with coke or sugar filled juices, feeding their children chips instead of fruit or veggies. It's rather sad in this day and age we continue to be so lazy in terms of the health choices we are making for others. So I ask all parents please sit down and have a look at your national food guide and put it to use when thinking about what your child needs to live and grow to his or her optimal potential. With millions of fat and obese people around the world we all need to take an active look at what we are putting into our mouths.