Things You'll Need:
- Food pyramid (optional)
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Step 1
Model good eating habits. Your kids learn by example more than anything else. If they witness you eating a balanced diet consisting of nutritious foods, they will (eventually) follow suit.
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Step 2
Involve your child in the selection of foods for the pantry. Bring her to the grocery store to help pick out produce items. Remind her at meal time that this is "her broccoli" or "her cauliflower" and she will be more likely to eat it.
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Step 3
Teach your child nutrition through play. Create and color a food pyramid together. Be sure to explain the significance of the pyramid's shape as it relates to how much of each type of food to eat each day.
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Step 4
Insist your kids eat one bite of a "new" food, but do not make them eat the entire serving if they don't like it. Offer kids a familiar choice from the same food group instead.
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Step 5
Reintroduce foods to children who did not like them initially. Allow a few weeks to go by before trying a "new" food again and only insist on the child taking one bite. Many foods required multiple introductions before becoming an acquired taste.
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Step 6
Cook with your child on a frequent basis. A child will be proud of his participation in the preparation of a meal--making it more likely that he will enjoy eating his creation.
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Step 7
Accept the times when your child only "picks" at food or won't eat at all. Excuse her from the table after 10 to 15 minutes, and allow her to go play without making her sit through the entire meal.
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Step 8
Work nutrition education into other learning experiences. For example, if your child is studying reptiles in science, teach the differences between a lizard's or alligator's diet and ours.
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Step 9
Praise your child when she makes a good food choice by calling attention to it. Don't label any foods as "bad" when teaching your child about nutrition, but explain how we should eat less of foods like cakes and candy and more of foods like fruits and veggies.
