SHELLEY HEAPHEY for The Parents’ Voice
If your kids are anything like mine, healthy snacks can sometimes be a battle. We’ve always worked hard with our children to surround them with healthy choices. When they were younger this was definitely easier to accomplish. Now that everyone’s in school with so many more influences, healthy snacks are a bit more difficult to convince them of. Here are some ideas that we’ve been doing and trying with our kids and some I’m going to try. Hopefully if you’re dealing with this problem these ideas will inspire you:
1. Start them young. If your kids are still young make healthy food choices a regular habit in your home. Present your kids with fruit, veggies, yogurt and cheese as snack choices. If they grow up with these choices it will be natural for them to choose them when they become old enough to make these choices independently.
2. Fill your fridge with healthy options: They can only eat what’s available to them. Make treats a special occasion. Let them choose from healthy options. I’ve read about what I think is a great strategy, have them choose two colours. If you make a meal and have veggies as options, corn, beans and carrots for example, have them choose two colours — in this instance they still get choice and variety but all the choices are healthy ones.
3. With older kids, discuss why healthy options are important. We have always talked about fuel for our body. From a super young age we’ve talked about sugar content (each 5g = 1 teaspoon – what a visual), we’ve talked about how much calcium they need for bones and teeth and what minerals and vitamins come from veggies and fruit. It’s an ongoing conversation here. The question of why they have certain choices becomes logical and they already know the answer. They definitely need reminding often though.
4. Make it fun. Sometimes changing the appearance of a snack makes it more enticing. Turning fruit into a fruit salad or fruit kabobs can make them more alluring. Adding yogurt as a dip can also spruce things up. The same holds true with veggies, for some reason my kids are excited to eat frozen veggies out of the freezer instead of fresh.
It can get boring when kids are presented with the same choices (as is here – choose a fruit or veggie – if the fruit or veggie is dressed up they tend to be happier about the choice).
5. Let them make it. There are some great, healthy recipes out there, healthy snacks that are delicious and fun. When the kids get involved in making food they tend to enjoy it more. Research healthy recipes before hand and then let them choose which one to make and take to school or to have on hand for snacks at home.
6. Discover their likes and then make them yourself. If your child loves trail mix, develop your own mix that you can make yourself and control the amount of sugar you put into it. If your child loves granola, find a recipe and make it together. If your child likes apple sauce, make it together in the fall.
7. Lunchbox envy. This is a true thing that many kids feel. When kids around them have fun looking lunches or foods they never get, it’s natural for them to become jealous. They want the packaged snacks too. I’ve conceded to allow it once in a while in my home, it ends up being a bargaining chip. Once every couple of weeks they choose a packaged treat or juice box (my son especially) and they feel they’ve won a battle. As my dad says about parenting — you have to let them win sometimes.
Healthy eating habits and snacks shouldn’t feel like a punishment for our kids. We have to strive to make healthy choices the fun ones. It definitely isn’t always easy.
Hopefully some of these tips prove useful to you. However you choose to get good food into your kids, good luck.
