{"id":4628,"date":"2016-02-29T10:12:20","date_gmt":"2016-02-29T10:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/craftykidsathome.com\/?p=4628"},"modified":"2018-05-17T09:06:40","modified_gmt":"2018-05-17T08:06:40","slug":"developing-healthy-eating-habits-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craftykidsathome.com\/developing-healthy-eating-habits-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I don’t Nag my Children to Eat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t make this healthy eating mistake.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Healthy<\/p>\n

Dr Orlena Kerek is a pediatric doctor and mother of four young children. She writes about developing healthy habits from an early age, especially healthy eating habits. She believes in fun healthy food the stress free way. You can find her over at <\/i>Snotty Noses.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Now that you are presenting our children with a healthy diet full of fresh fruit and vegetables, you are bound to hit a brick wall. You\u2019ll find that your children are independent beings who don\u2019t want to eat carrots or peas or broccoli. They like pizza and burgers and fries.<\/p>\n

This is where the stress starts to creep in. You\u2019re trying SO hard. You know it\u2019s important. You\u2019ve gone to so much effort.<\/p>\n

And wham!<\/p>\n

\u201cYuck!\u201d \u201cI don\u2019t like it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Noses turned up. Plates pushed away.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s frustrating.<\/p>\n

No, it\u2019s INFURIATING. I know! I have 4 kids and sometimes they tell me they don\u2019t like what\u2019s for dinner BEFORE they\u2019ve even seen it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s tempting to shout, to scream, to threaten to throw the dinner at them.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t. (Only in my dreams.)<\/p>\n

So what can we do?<\/p>\n

\"Free<\/a><\/p>\n

Developing Healthy Eating Habits: Why I don’t nag my children to eat?<\/h2>\n

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.<\/em><\/p>\n

We can simply offer them the food, the HEALTHY food and let them decide if they want to eat it or not.<\/p>\n

You offer them healthy food at regular intervals (meal and snack times) through out the day.<\/p>\n

If they are hungry, they will eat.<\/p>\n

If they are not hungry, or don\u2019t like what\u2019s on offer. They can choose not to eat.<\/p>\n

They don\u2019t get to choose a packet of biscuits instead. They don\u2019t get their favourite spaghetti bolognese every day.<\/p>\n

They get varied, healthy and tasty food presented to them.<\/p>\n

Of course they can help to cook<\/a>. They can help to decide what healthy food they\u2019ll eat but the key is to offer them healthy food and not to pressure them to eat it.<\/p>\n

Pressuring Children to Eat has Negative Consequences.<\/h2>\n

That\u2019s right! You don\u2019t pressure them to eat.<\/p>\n

No \u201cclean plate club\u201d.<\/p>\n

No \u201ctry your carrots\u201d.<\/p>\n

Not even \u201cone polite bite\u201d.<\/p>\n

You learn to trust your children. You learn to give them control over what goes in their mouths. You control what you offer them. They control what they eat.<\/p>\n

Pressuring children to eat does not work. It makes meal times stressful and creates power struggles that you aren\u2019t going to win. Pressuring your children to eat can also lead to an unhealthy relationship with food later on in life, comfort eating or even bulimia.<\/p>\n

\"Healthy<\/p>\n

Offer them Variety.<\/h2>\n

Children don\u2019t like variety.<\/p>\n

They will be resistant. The more variety they eat, the more likely they are to try new foods. We want our children to get nutrients from lots of different places rather than eating spaghetti bolognese every day.<\/p>\n

You can alternate favourite foods with new foods. You can offer them together. This is one of the easiest ways. If you offer them a range of healthy food, some that you know they\u2019ll like and some that is new, you won\u2019t be worried about them going hungry.
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