1. No short term fixes
- Nagging
- Bribing (with unhealthy stuff)
- Smacking/shouting
- Punishing
- Even hiding vegetables
In the long term this just makes eating healthily seem like an unwanted chore
2. No boring reasons
- Healthy
- Nutritious
- Heart disease, cancer, strokes, arthritis
These things aren't sexy for a child, this won't motivate your kids
3. Link healthy foods to what they like
- Sport
- Being smart
- Being tall/fast/jumping high
- Having healthy skin
- Having energy
- Be careful with healthy weight or good looks
This will motivate your kids
4. Teach them to judge food by how they feel after, not before or during
- Point it out to them
- Praise them during and after
- Praise them to others with them in earshot
- Use questions
- Link their performance the next day to their good eating
- Point out to them the negative effects of their poor eating
This teaches your kids the real effects of healthy and unhealthy foods
5. Role model healthy food
- Make a big deal out of it
- Do it together
- Use lots of positive words (yummy)
- Teach them to LOVE to not HAVE to eat healthily
Kids love to copy their parents and will see straight through you if you don't practice what you preach
6. When you make exceptions tell them why you only make them occasionally
- Don't make it a reward (reward with healthy things like praise or fun activities)
- Be wary what links you are making with your kids and junk food
- Don't use it to ‘cheer them up'
- Let them know when occasionally is
You don't want to create unhealthy food links in your kids' brains like junk food makes me happy/helps me celebrate or lifts my mood when I am down.
7. Have a routine
- encourage your kids to eat at meal time
- minimise snacking
Kids love and respond to routine.
8. Surround your kids with healthy options
- Make it really easy to choose healthy stuff
- Play on their laziness
- Create Happy meals
- Create a story, ‘spinach makes Popeye strong etc.'
- Make it look fun: shapes, colours etc. Tie in with the story and what they love
- Give it a great name - Shrek's green juice
If you make it easier to eat healthy than not, you are off to a flying start.
9. Healthy rewards
- Praise, especially in front of others
- Earnt pocket money
- Healthy sweet stuff - berries, nut balls w/ honey, favourite fruit
- Fun activity
This teaches kids to ‘reward' themselves with healthy behaviours.
10. Keep trying
- Junk food companies advertise every day because they know repetition works
- It usually doesn't work day one or even week one.
It won't happen overnight but you only fail when YOU give up!
A great book to help you implement these changes is ‘Don't tell them it's healthy' by Karen Fischer. I was lent it by a practice member and will be getting it for my lending library as it is fantastic!
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written by Dr Brett Hill, August 19, 2011
written by Dr Brett Hill, August 19, 2011
http://thewellnessguys.com/episode-3-how-to-get-kids-to-eat-healthy
Thanks
Marilyne