Posted on September 19, 2008 in Latest News
Do your kids refuse to eat vegetables, fruits even after repeated requests? If the answer is yes, there is no need to worry as it is very common for kids to dislike new foods.
Sometimes, parents may be satisfied if their kids just eat something such as chocolate, cookies, or other foods. However, make sure your kids get to eat a wide variety of vegetables and fruits. Vegetables and fruits have good nutritional value compared to the junk foods which only add calories.
Top 5 Mistakes Parents make while Making Kids eat food
Here are the top 5 mistakes parents make while making kids eat food:
- Forcing: When a new food is served, you may force your kid to have just one bite of the food. You may even offer a reward for eating it. However, kids do not like to eat food when forced. In the long run, they may even dislike the food. Serve new foods, but avoid forcing them to eat. Even if they eat small quantity of the new food, praise them and give them the freedom of choice
- Keeping kids out of kitchen: Parents feel kitchen is not a place for kids, maybe because of the noise kids create, or because of the knives, stove etc. However, when kids are involved in preparing the meals, they are more likely to eat the food. Even if they see you preparing the meals, they would lose their fear of eating new foods
- Hiding high-calorie foods : High calories foods such as chocolates, cookies etc. are generally kept far away from the kids’ reach. This may create craving among kids to eat more of such foods. Instead, buy healthy food and do not restrict your kids from accessing the food shelves
- Being impatient: Parents, while waiting for the kids to get used to the new food, should be patient. They should not give up easily assuming that the kids would not like the new food introduced. Research shows that after 10 to 15 servings, kids may be willing to eat the new foods served.
- Modeling unhealthy food habits: Kids are most likely to imitate their parents’ eating habits. Eating habits such as dieting, binge eating give wrong signals to kids and they may avoid certain foods and binge on others. By eating healthy food, you will be improving not only your health, but also instilling good food habits in your children
Having regular family meals also helps the kids eat a variety of foods. Hence, by being more patient and adopting healthy food habits, parents can help kids switch to a healthy diet.
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