| Help your
kids form healthy snack habits. Share your enjoyment of food with
them and whenever appropriate, let them help you in the kitchen.
Let them try washing, stirring, rolling, mashing, even baking
and cooking as the opportunities come up. When your kids experience
meals and the preparation beforehand as a happy time shared with
you, they'll learn to associate healthy habits with meals and
food. Want to know an excellent
recipe for teaching kids good snack habits? Get your kids involved
in preparing them. The trick to making this strategy work like
magic is to get them in the kitchen when they're not terribly
hungry. You want to show them how to prepare their own snacks
for the following day or week. Preparing snacks ahead of time
teaches your kids that they don't have to be hungry to prepare
food-- they can prepare it now, and eat it later when they do
get hungry. The practice of preparing healthy snacks together
teaches your kids to associate a fun activity with eating well.
When children are old enough to handle a knife
responsibly, show them how to slice and chop fresh celery into
edible-sized sticks. They can spread peanut butter into the
sticks and then have fun counting how many sticks they created.
Try the same with apple slices. Place sticks and slices in plastic
wrap and stow them in the fridge for a yummy snack later.
Kids, and hey, let's face it, adults too, can
often get so hungry that when they reach for a snack it's a
fast pick, something yummy for instant gratification. These
quick, available snacks are all the more tempting to kids because
they often come packaged with hidden toys and feature familiar
television characters on their colorful wrappings. Commercial
snack food manufacturers spend lots of money on marketing campaigns.
Their goal is to make their snack food appear to be more fun
than 'homemade.'
You want to make it just as fun for kids to
grab an apple slice or a celery stick smeared with peanut butter,
as it is to snap up a bag of potato chips or handful of candy.
Empty calories early in life can lead to extra pounds that your
kids may have a tough time shedding off as they mature. Replace
sugary or fatty snacks with fruits and vegetables whenever possible,
by making them more appealing for children. |
