How to make kids eat healthy

When it comes to cooking, I always try to prepare healthy meals that everybody in the house can eat and benefit from. It is always a challenge, as we all have different taste buds, personalities and preferences.  However, I feel pretty accomplished, that now especially at dinner time, we all have the same food.  I always go back to my childhood memories, where my mom used very practical strategies to make sure we ate everything on our plate.  There was no room for “picky eaters” and she had a “zero tolerance” policy.  Today, I’m grateful for all the love and lessons that she taught me.  If you are up for the challenge to make your kids eat healthier, here are my tips that are proven to work.

• Mom knows best:  You cannot please everybody, especially when we are talking about 7,5,and 3yo kids, who probably would choose chicken nuggets and fries over any other food.  I make it clear to my kids that they are my responsibility and it’s my job to protect and take care of them.  Therefore, I am the one who is going to make the decisions as for what food they are going to eat.  Of course, you have to lead by the example, as you cannot expect them to eat healthy if you are having a hamburger+coke+fries.  Making healthy foods takes effort, and trial + error.  So many times I experiment with new foods that I’m not sure my kids would like, but I just present it with confidence, crossing my fingers and not showing my fears.

• Keep trying:  Since we are all different (remember when we talked about bio-individuality?), and my kids are no exception, there are some things that one likes it while the others don’t care for.  For example, my second son loves bell peppers, the youngest one likes them and the oldest one, not so much.  But I just “ignore” it.  They all eat them when they are served.  It did not happen overnight.  I just started to serve a few, and little by little, they started to get used to them.  Now they can handle them and that happens too with mushrooms, and green beans.  I try to find ways to include veggies they struggle with, camouflaging them or cooking them in different ways.  However, there are certain foods (like raw onions) my kids don’t like at all and I’m willing to work with them, while keep trying once in a while.  Since I love onions, sometimes I fixed them on the side, so my husband and I can still enjoy them.

• Avoid the bribing game:  Bribing your kids is not sustainable.  Once a reward/compensation system is introduced, it’s hard to get rid of it and it will come back and bite you.  It’s better to explain to them the reasons you have to make them eat healthy.  You would be surprised to witness how fast they understand the reasons behind healthy eating.  They may not like it, but they understand where you are coming from.  What I do instead, is to teach them about consequences.  If they do not eat, their privileges will be taking away.  So, that makes them also responsible of their decisions.

•  Be careful with the snacks:  I started to realize the huge amount of snacks kids in the US eat when my kids started to go to school and to play sports.  Not only that they are full of  preservatives, artificial colors and very little nutrient value, but they are served at every possible break and every single game – doesn’t matter if its at 8am!  I always try to look for healthy options (fruit is a big favorite) and make sure the snack provided is not too close to a meal, since it would defeat the purpose of providing an nutritious meal if they are full.

• Balance and prioritize your activities:  I do understand how important sports are in the roll of an American family life.  I do want my kids to be active and to practice as many sports as WE, the parents can handle.  I feel that parents have a lot of pressure to have their kids in multiple sports at the same time.  I’ve been lucky enough that my husband is a teacher and his schedule has allowed him to take our kids to practice and even to coach them, while I was picking the youngest one from daycare to rush home to cook.  Those days were usually hectic, as we had to plan ahead of time what we were going to eat that day in order to avoid the typical “take out” as there is little time for cooking.   You don’t want your kids to relate sports to unhealthy eating.   Health and family sanity prevails over any activity, so be mindful to yourself and just do what you can handle. 

Nobody will take care of your kids as good as you do. You and your family are worth the effort and tomorrow your kids will be grateful for all of what you did for them.  They will be making their own choices, but I assure you they will think of you and those days where mom knew best.

Wishing you health and happiness,

Gaby Pedersen