Healthy Foods Your Toddler Will Enjoy: Apple Slices, Cheese, Cheerios and More

Many toddlers no matter what family they come from are picky eaters. Mom, dad brother and sister may eat everything under the sun; but put it in front of the little one, and you've got a problem.

Toddlers have problems with all sorts of elements that make up our favorite foods. Substance, color, smell, texture, movement and most obviously flavor. We must understand that for a young child, their senses are much more developed then yours or mine. Many of us can remember our most hated foods when we were younger. For me it was grits and beets. Nowadays I can eat grits as long as they're hot with butter, salt and pepper and maybe some cheese. I can now eat beets if they're pickled in a salad. But, if I concentrate; I can easily remember why these foods disgusted me. If I pause for a moment I remember the nasty beet taste on the back left corner of my tongue. I can't quite place it, but I remember how disgusting that used to be for me. And, if I let my grits get just slightly cold they take on that disgusting form with a shiny skin that I remember so well and I can't even begin to eat them.

If as adults we can try to remember the foods we hated so much as little ones and just eat them again to try and remember exactly what was so repulsive about these foods to us; we can begin to identify with toddlers. Yes some toddlers are just testing their limits with us and their behavior should be corrected. But, the reality is that most of the time; the foods that they don't like are just highly disgusting to them because of the fact that they're brand new to the world and their senses of taste, smell, sight and everything else are that much stronger then our own. Thus it seems impossible to them to even think about eating such a thing.

There are some foods that are universal favorites though that many toddlers will enjoy. Now I'm not saying that every toddler will like everything listed in this article, but I'm sure that you will find at least one healthy option for the one that you love.

One thing to consider with toddlers is that they're learning about their world in small steps; so it's a wonderful thing when their food can be stimulating to the creative and imaginative portion of their brains. For example serving different flavored cheeses in blocks and slices can allow your toddler to build structures with his/her food and your little one will enjoy eating the building so much more after that. Now this does encourage playing with food; but as long as your child knows that this is one of the only times he/she can do this sort of activity and respects your rules then you should be fine and eating healthy snacks can become a fun game to be played SOMETIMES.

Raw broccoli trees are always a favorite and apple slices usually go over pretty well. Try serving your raw apple slices with a dip of melted milk chocolate or a few spoon fulls of peanut butter. These are not the healthiest dips in excess; but a little really won't hurt. Banana slices and carrot sticks are fun and healthy. And, honestly; I've found one of the universal absolute favorite toddler treats to be plain, simple, no frills Cheerios without milk (or any cereal your toddler likes for that matter.) But, for some reason toddlers just love the shape, size and taste of Cheerios. And, as a parent; you really can't complain about too much sugar or salt or anything for that matter with that cereal in particular.

So there you have it; healthy treats that most toddlers will eat. Enjoy your snack time. :-)