How to encourage healthy eating in preschoolers

One of the most frustrating things about being a parent can be getting your child to eat well. They don't want vegetables. They don't want fruit. All they want is McDonald's!

But it doesn't have to be that way. With some work and some time, you can help your children try new foods.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Patience
• A well-balance diet

1. 
    
   Eating lots of different colors is an easy way to eat healthy!

   Make sure you are eating healthy. Children naturally imitate the behavior of their parents, so if you eat well, they will tend to eat well too.

2. Don't fix a separate meal for your child. If they are expected to eat what you eat, and not given an option, they will at least try the food.

3. Have a rule for trying new foods. In our house, you have to take the same number of bites as how old you are. So our three year must take three bites of each food on his plate.

4. 
    
   Big Muscles!

   Give your child the nutritional reason to eat the food. For example, after we told our son that spinach would give him big muscles, he gobbled it up!

5. Disguise food. Put veggies in casseroles. Zucchini and carrots in particular are easy to grind up and add to other ingredients.

6. Substitute healthy options. Change white bread to whole-grain, white rice to brown, and regular pasta to whole wheat.

7. 
    
   Ants on a Log

   Try fun ways of presenting the food. Ants on a log is always popular - take a celery stick and cover with cream cheese and peanut butter, then sprinkle with raisins.

8. Don't get discouraged. It can take up to twenty times of trying a food before we start liking it, so keep serving those healthy fruits and veggies!

[ThenAgainMaybe]

on 4/16/2009 Great ideas for getting your preschooler to try new foods. I'm a big fan of the idea of not fixing a separate meal - I'm a mom, not a short-order cook! RRRC

[static404]

on 2/17/2009 A much needed article. Thanks.

[thepassivedad]

on 2/10/2009 Disguising veggies is an art. Great tips. 5*

[krndpx]

on 10/22/2007 I tell my kids that their taste buds change every 7 years (which is true), so they need to keep trying things because they never know when they might start liking them. That helps as they get beyond the preschool years.

[revisitingnixon]

on 10/10/2007 This is genius. This is definitely viable for any people who are taking care of or babysitting kids. Thanks for the article.