Healthier Food Choices for Children

Encourage Healthy Eating at Snack Time

Meal and snack times provide a time to encourage healthy habits and conversation.  When wise snacking is added to three nutritious meals a day, adults can achieve the total recommended daily guidelines for healthy American children. Otherwise, the guidelines can be very difficult. Children before the 1960’s rarely snacked at all.  Then the food industry and ads took over.

Suggestions

   Over 27% of American children’s daily calories come from snacking also known as grazing. This snacking doesn’t have to be bad. It could be something you had planned to offer at mealtime anyway as part of the five basic groups on a plate: about half fruits and vegetables, half grains and protein, and a glass milk or yogurt. Perhaps children were not hungry for all the offerings. 

This plan of including tasty fruit and vegetable snacks is especially useful if fruits and vegetables are often left on the plate or a big point of contention at mealtime.

  A snack that satisfies hunger might be cut up fruits and vegetables like oranges, bananas, pears, apples, thin shavings of carrots, or frozen peas with just a small amount of cereal or crackers. Add a little cheese, yogurt,or small piece of turkey. You may want to replace crackers with whole grain bread pieces or crunchy toast, pockets or wraps and a little peanut butter. Check with your physician. 

Have Water Instead of Juice or Soda

Recommendations are five to thirteen servings of fruits and vegetables. Three meals plus three nutritious snacks, including one at bedtime, equals meeting the nutritional guidelines. 

  Water Not Soda or Juice

      Another suggestion from nutritionists is to provide water or milk during mealtimes and snacks rather than juice or soda. Drinking water rather than soda is cheaper; it is caffeine and sweetener free and will become a habit.

 To set a good example, eat a small snack and drink water or skim milk with your children. Have your snack at the kitchen table rather in front of the TV, phone, or computer. 

Teach How to Read Nutrition Labels 

You may like to play a game like I Spy Something Red or some other color to spark conversation. Another variation is to count the number of items of a color you can find in a room.  Alphabet and category games are also conversation starters. How many words can you think of that start with the letter B?

  You can teach young children to read numbers on nutrition labels. Four year olds can look for smaller number of sugar grams and become very aware of what they eat. These little food detectives can compare labels on boxed cereals, soup, processed meats, frozen meals, and macaroni and cheese to find the lowest amounts of sweeteners especially. 

  For more ways to help children be healthy see grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons.

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarlingfotos

Teaching How to Analyze and Guess

Children Love Guessing Games

Children love guessing games.  A favorite one is called What’s in the Box? It’s something that families can do anytime, anywhere to encourage children to analyze, narrow options, and make a reasonable guess. They will need to listen carefully when they shake the box and analyze what could fit in the box.

  Find a few boxes of various sizes with lids that children cannot see through. Oatmeal boxes work well.  Children can decorate the boxes to make them special. Children can cover the boxes, color with markers, and cover with stickers. Now it’s their game.

  You can search round the house for common objects children use like cars, action figures, kitchen utensils, marbles, balls, small plastic storage boxes, a book, a lemon slice, peanuts, or a balled up piece of newspaper. At first children can help you collect the objects so they have a head start with clues and possibilities.

Secrets 

  To start the game, secretly put something in the box and put the cover on tightly. Children can shake the box, turn it, and smell it, but the box must stay shut. 

Give Clues to Guess the Secret

Then begin giving hints.  You can tell the color, size, use and many other clues, but only give one clue at time. Children can have as many chances as you want to guess what’s inside. They can ask a certain number of questions reducing the number with age.

  After your child guesses what is in the box, another object goes inside.  Maybe this time children will pick out the object from around the house and have you guess.

As children get a little older the game can change. It is much harder for young children to think of questions but older children love to figure it out in twenty questions.

  Children of all ages love routine and this kind of activity. It might be played in the car every time you are headed to music class. It might be played first thing in the morning, while eating breakfast.  Think of a routine situation in your life where this game would be fun to play and helpful to keep children occupied.

Clues

More Guessing Activities

 Activities like this get young children thinking and help to develop vocabulary skills. Developing routines for young children can also help build feelings of security.

Guessing games help children wait patiently in line. 

Other games include Guess My Drawing? Take along a pad of paper and draw simple objects a little at a time while children guess. Look around the room and allow children ten questions to guess properties and finally the object chosen. The game is called “I Spy with my little Eye.”

  For more activities with children see grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons live and podcasts; Pinterest, and Facebook.

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

Alert Families Help Toddlers

Set Limits Provide Patience and Management

Toddlers between age two to three improve large motor skills like running, kicking, climbing, managing stairs, running and testing limits.  It’s an exhausting time for families  and remains that way until about age five. However, if families know this is natural, set limits, and are very vigilant for safety, this mindset will help develop parental patience and management according to the American Pediatrics Association.

Repeat, Prepare, Redirect

  Families can help by preparing, practicing, repeating positive phrases, and redirecting behavior. “When the big hand is on the one and the timer goes off, it is time to go home and have your favorite--mac and cheese.” 

  Acknowledge positive behavior. “ Great job! Thank you for picking up your toys!”

  Redirect enthusiastically. “Let’s read your favorite book and cuddle with Baby Bear now. You look like you need a break!” 

  Reassure. “I love you, and this is dangerous.  “Hold my hand for safety. I love you. Stop, look, listen and hold my 

Redirect Enthusiastically

hand as we cross the parking lot.”

Small Motor Skills

  This age also makes great strides with brain development small motor skills, too.  They like to dress and undress, turn pages of books, turn doorknobs, unscrew lids, feed themselves, build with small blocks and use figures for creative adventure stories. 

  One Grandma noticed her toddler going up to her TV and trying to swipe to change the picture. The parents decided they had been using technology too much and returned to hard copy books so their daughter could turn pages while reading together. 

  Often the brain is developing even faster than muscles in terms of doing the things they want to do and need a little 

Often Brain Development is Faster than Muscles

help. Toddlers age two to three show greater understanding. They pay attention longer than last year and use colors when talking about objects, if taught.  They are gobbling up information at a rapid rate. Toddlers can help, sort, and put things away. 

  Kindergarten teachers emphasize that it is important for adults to say, “I will help you do this “rather than “let me help you.” “ Me” is being overused as  a subject of sentences like “Me will go to the bathroom “  even in kindergarten. The “Me” habit is as hard to extinguish.  The age old problem of “ Me and Sam want this” instead of “Sam and I want this" (correct form) is also a problem.

  A new concern is second hand smoke and vapor around children. Their brains and lungs are absorbing the TCH and aerosol toxins during a time when their brain’s frontal lobe, the logical problem solving part of the brain, is experiencing its fastest growth until middle school when growth accelerates again. The toxin list is at gaspforair.org. For more toddler activities see grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com and wnmufm.org/Learning Through the Seasons; live and podcasts.

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos