When it comes to healthy development of young children, few areas are as important as a healthy, balanced diet. The food habits we acquire in our youth often stick with us for the rest of our lives, and they also play a major role in basic physical development and health during these early years.
At Smart Kids Development Center, all our staff members are well-versed in healthy dietary habits for kinds, and our programs include health, nutritious meals for all our children. And while our child care programs are valuable for helping children establish and maintain healthy eating habits, these efforts begin at home and through strong parenting. With this in mind, this two-part blog will focus on several specific tactics we recommend when it comes to maintaining healthy eating habits for young children.
First and foremost, the chances of children truly internalizing and grasping healthy eating concepts go way up when they’re involved in the choices and efforts that build this program. Many parents find huge success taking their kids grocery shopping with them and allowing them to perform certain simple tasks, such as locating a certain healthy food on a shelf or choosing between two healthy snacks you’ve made available to them.
This process builds not only knowledge of healthy foods and habits, but also ownership over their health and body. They’ll build positive habits that stretch out for many years into the future, just like you see with many other habitual areas you begin building during these early years of their life.
Reinforcement is also a major tool at your disposal here, and one way of wielding it is through regular family meals at the table. For starters, these allow you to be in direct control of what your child eats for several of their main meals, allowing you to include items like fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods.
Beyond this, however, family meals are predictable and reinforce habits. They allow you to introduce new foods to your kids at the right times, plus catch up on daily life and build your family relationship at the same time.
Like with numerous other parenting areas, you should be a role model for your kids in the healthy eating department. Don’t push nutritious foods on them only to show up with a McDonalds bag every night for yourself – eat the same foods they do and explain why these are important. Another major area here is portion size: Teaching your kids about proper portions also means tracking your own.
For more on how to impart healthy eating habits on your kids, or to learn about any of our preschool, daycare or other child care programs and how we promote nutrition, speak to the staff at Smart Kids Development Center today.