Does the dinnertime refusal of anything green--or healthy--sound familiar when it comes to your child? If you feel like you are fighting a losing battle to convince your child to make healthy food choices, don't lose hope just yet. By making your child more involved in her food choices and using the "try, try again" method, you can succeed in getting your child to eat healthy foods. This is extremely important because establishing healthy habits early on ensures your child will keep these habits for the rest of her life.
Step 1
Take your child grocery shopping. When your child feels as if she has a role in what you eat, she is more likely to eat the foods she has selected. Allow her to choose only between healthy foods: for example, ask her if she would rather consume apples or oranges or pretzels or whole-wheat crackers.
Step 2
Cook meals together. Just as your child responds well to choosing foods, she also is more likely to eat the foods she cooks. Although she should not be exposed to hazardous or dangerous items, asking her to choose items that would be served or arranging foods, such as breads, fruits or cheeses, all represent great ways to get kids involved. As an added benefit, your child enjoys a home-cooked meal, which is likely to contain less sugar, salt and fat than restaurant items.
Step 3
Make the food look fun--shape foods into favorite shapes, such as pot pies covered with a star-shaped biscuit. You can even make a smiley face out of vegetables or turn eating healthy foods into a game, such as naming a color for every green bean eaten.
Step 4
Serve healthy foods, and if your child does not agree to eat the food, try again. Cook the item a week later and offer it to your child again. If you emphasize how good it tastes to you and your other family members, your child will likely try the food as well.
Step 5
Allow only two snacks per day. Otherwise your child could fill up on snacks and refrain from eating a healthy dinner. You also should limit drinks, such as calorie-filled juices, because these also make a child feel full.
Step 6
Set an established schedule of meals and snacks. A routine helps a child know what to expect from his daily meals and how hungry he should be at each. This helps to reduce battles over foods because parents and children know better what to expect and know when the next food item will be served.
Tips and Warnings
- One of the best ways to help your child eat healthy is for you to eat healthy yourself. Children look to you as their role model--if you display healthy habits and an enjoyment of good-for-you foods, it's likely they will try them as well.
- Refrain from offering unhealthy foods as a reward for eating healthy ones. For example, don't exchange eating a serving of carrots in exchange for a cookie. Your child will then associate the healthy food with being unpleasant.
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