Teaching Your Kids Healthy Eating Habits

Eating healthy for everyone these days is more of a challenge because of the busy schedules that most of us have. In fact, the typical North American family is busier than ever before. Between your child's hockey practices, soccer games, music lessons, swimming lessons, etc, there seems to be no free time during your day. How do you teach your children to eat healthy when you and your family are almost always on the go?

One way to do this is to try and plan out meals for the week (keeping in mind your schedule) and if you have time, try and make a whole week worth of meals on the weekend. Get your children to assist in dinner making. My youngest daughter's job is to be the taste tester. She makes the salad and then gets a sneak taste to see how it tastes. This makes her feel like she is really contributing to the family meal. Why not take your children grocery shopping with you and let them assist in choosing fruits or vegetables? This might be a good time to introduce a new fruit or vegetable, but keep in mind that it may take some time for your child to get used to eating the new fruit or vegetable.

Make it easy for your children to grab a healthy snack by keeping fruits and vegetables on hand and ready to eat when they get home from school or come in from playing. Cut up and have on hand child friendly pieces that can be easily taken in a hurry. Some good snacks include yogurt, peanut butter and celery, or whole-grain crackers and cheese. Raw veggies are always a favorite, especially if you put them with a dip of low cal salad dressing. Fresh fruit prepared the same way with a yogurt dip can also be a hit.

Be a role model for your children and start them off to the road of healthy eating early in life. If they see you eating healthy when they are young, chances are they will want to eat the same things as you Review how and what you eat and decide where changes can be made. No one wants to deprive their child of eating sweets, but if they are in moderation, that is ok. Remember, it is your responsibility as the parent to provide healthy nourishing food for your children. Instead of rewarding your child with a snack, try a hug, a kiss, stickers or an activity. Being a child is about learning limits. Try to teach them to limit their intake of sweets and sodas and encourage them to drink water or milk instead.

Routines are important for children, they thrive on them. Just as bedtime should be a routine, dinner time needs to be a routine as well. Try and set a specific time to eat and also don't have the television on while you eat. Many commercials have children as their focus audience and try to entice children into eating things that are not necessarily healthy.

If you view eating healthy as fun and as an adventure, your children will want to try and do this too. The good news is once your child begins to eat healthy, chances are these healthy eating habits will stick with them throughout their whole life.