How to Make Healthy Snacks More Appealing to Kids

When your child was a baby and toddler you carefully chose everything she ate. No added salt in her pureed veggies, watered-down juices, and no candy. But now that she's older and has gotten a taste for junk food, she may not be willing to eat as healthy as you'd like her to. Here are some tips to make healthy snacks, and also healthy meals, more appealing to your child.

Serve it with dip

Dip seems to make anything appealing to kids. Serve some raw vegetables, like celery sticks, broccoli, and baby carrots, with some dip. You can also toast whole wheat pita bread to make pita chips for the dip, or serve pretzels or whole grain crackers. Favorite dips for kids may include: ketchup, hummus, salsa, barbeque sauce, cheese dips and more. Just be sure that if the dip itself is not very healthy, don't serve too much of it or it may defeat the purpose of eating healthy vegetables or chips!

Let them help prepare the snack

When kids help out with a meal, it makes them more likely to find it appealing. Have them help you wash fruit, pour pretzels into a bowl, or take out the correct number of bread slices for sandwiches.

Give them a choice

Yes, we all know that as parents we're supposed to say, "I'm not a restaurant!" when our kids make specific food requests. But giving your child a choice between two types of snacks may make them more likely to enjoy a healthy snack. It allows you to stay in control of their choices, while, at the same time, your child feels a sense of control over what he or she is going to eat. One exception, however: this is probably not a good idea for toddlers. I've found that whenever I try to be a nice parent and give my 2 year old a choice between two things, she either wants both or keeps changing her mind as to which one she wants.

Let them go shopping with you

Take your children shopping with you. Show them the healthy snack choices available and let them help you pick out the ones they would like. For an older child, introduce him to the nutrition panel on the sides of prepackaged foods. Show him that less salt is better, and to look for more protein and fiber as well as vitamins and minerals. Also teach about ingredients. Show him how many junk foods include all kinds of un-pronounceable ingredients, while healthy snacks will include whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, natural sources of sugar, etc.

Work on their mindset

T.V., cartoons, ads, friends, and parents all assume that kids won't like healthy foods. That seems to add to kids' perceptions of healthy foods as being "yucky". One of the gifts I got when my daughter was a baby was a set of bibs. I never used them because one said "Too Cute to Eat my Vegetables" while another had a big picture of an ice cream cone on it. At 6 months, my daughter wouldn't have understood the bibs, but still, I wanted to keep those kinds of assumptions away from her. Start feeding your child healthy snacks as a baby. Limit overly salty and sugary snacks. Once they get a taste for junk food, they lose their appreciation for naturally sweet things and other healthy foods. Teach them that healthy snacks help them grow big and strong and give them energy, while unhealthy snacks may make them feel lazy and won't give them the nutrients they need.