Diet for children has to consist of complete nutrition. Complete nutrition involves all the necessary minerals, vitamins, and nutrients needed to function daily. As for children’s diet, they have to be cared for and looked after the most as it directly links to their mental and physical growth. Children learn to speak new words every day and run every day. So, to have their bodies function as well as grow, parents need a healthy diet for kids. The balance is acquired if they eat vegetables, fruits, cereals, pulses, fish, meat, eggs, and dairy products.
But the one thing children are consisting of doing is to run away during meal times. They are very selective about their food. They are also very keen on eating 4-5 bites and leaving the rest of the food untouched. For many toddlers, eating time means playing around with food and making a mess on the table. How then, will you maintain a child’s diet? You can play the airplane game, but the child will outgrow that as well.
Hence, read on, and you will have some tricks up your sleeve that will facilitate you in importance and maintenance for kids’ diet and feeding them all the necessary nutrients.
Tips to maintain a child’s diet:
1. Colorful plate
Parents understand the importance of diet for kids, and hence, they always urge them to finish everything on the plate. If your child refuses to do so, then try fixing their plate with different colored food. Their plate should resemble that of a rainbow. The different colors will excite them and even encourage them to try more food. You can also ask them “can you guess what color is this food?”. While playing and laughing with you, they will finish their food.
2. Imitation and modeling
If you are looking for recipes for a healthy diet for kids online, then you need to partake in this trend and eat healthy as well. When the child will see the parent finish their vegetables on the plate, they will imitate and eat themselves. Children always race against time and wish to be an adult faster than their peers. They will imitate their parent’s actions, so why won’t they imitate their eating habits as well?
3. Creation and food
It’s not easy communication when parents have to convince their children to eat. They won’t understand the adult and logical explanations on the importance of a healthy diet for kids. To make them eat their least favorite fruit, you can cut it up in a funny shape. If you are creative in the kitchen, you can even cut the food into shapes of their favorite cartoons.
4. Let them decide
Children are always eager to be grown-up, and the most grown-up thing to do is make decisions. Hence, service them certain food items. Let them pick their food. You can present to the 3 types of food, and ask them to finish 1 full serving and half of the other dish they select. This will let them decide what they want to eat and ensure that they eat 70% of their meal.
5. Grocery shopping
Take your kid grocery shopping with you. Let them decide the fruits, vegetables, and cereals they wish to eat. When they have decided their ingredients by themselves, they are more likely to eat than when you pick it.
We now know why the kid’s diet is important and how to maintain it. You can follow these simple tips and fill your child with a plate full of nutrients. You can also encourage them to eat healthy snacks in between than eat chips and cake. And of course, once in a while, they deserve a cheat meal as well.
You might like to read our another article on How to Encourage Healthy Eating in Toddlers