Helping Children Learn to Love Nutritional Foods

Looking for new and inventive ways to ensure your children are eating nutritionally? Here are a few ‘Nutritional Nuggets’ for you:

Reintroduce, reintroduce, reintroduce! Make it a habit as a parent to NEVER confine your child’s palate to a once or twice reaction. Encourage your children that their tastebuds are always changing and that it’s exciting to try foods again and again, waiting for the day that our mouth appreciates them.

Take broccoli. Some children are offended by merely the sight of broccoli. Continue to reintroduce it until the sight and smell becomes tolerable, then encourage to take a bite – even if your child doesn’t eat the broccoli let them know that it has to remain on their plate. Becoming familiar and comfortable with broccoli may mean pretending they are little trees, and learning about the many nutrients in broccoli and how those nutrients help our bodies stay healthy.

If we could leave you with one ‘Nutritional Nugget’ to encourage your child’s healthy eating habits it would be to avoid entertaining the idea that there are nutritional foods they don’t like.

We easily fall into patterns and adjust our shopping and cooking to the likes and dislikes of our children until we are no longer introducing certain foods assuming they don’t like them. Children are much

less likely to make long-term decisions about foods or activities than us adults, and it’s helpful if we don’t put that level of commitment into their daily whims. Also by avoiding saying “she/he doesn’t like broccoli…” we are not attaching this to our children and they have more freedom to change their minds.

Good luck with all your nutritional goals for this year and happy reintroducing!