Kids and healthy food choices can be tricky, but not impossible. When it comes to letting kids make their own healthy choices, it is important to give them tips and tricks they can use to do it! Letting kids make their own food choices can take work off of a caregiver’s plate in the long-run. Allowing them to learn how to eat healthy without someone’s approval can help them make healthy choices at school and all kinds of other places they eat when someone is not with them.
There can be a lot of questions when it comes to food. It is important to create a safe space for kids to talk about food and ask questions. Learning always starts at home and you can bet we have all kinds of ideas for you to use to guide them along the way. Here are a few items you can work on with your kids to kick start their empowerment on making their own healthy decisions on food.
1.) Cook as a family one time a week.
Cooking together is not only an easy way for adults to role model healthy eating, it gives also gives kids a chance to learn how to use common kitchen tools like measuring cups. Need other recipe ideas? Visit the blog section of our website to access our healthy and delicious recipes.
Have fun with it!
2.) Drink more water.
It is easy to drink sugary drinks like juice and chocolate milk when kids are not at home. One way of helping kids to make healthy drink choices is to include a water bottle in their backpack or lunch bag.
3. Homemade smoothies
Kids love to play kitchen chef! Make it fun by having them pick out their favorite fruits and veggies. They can wash the produce using a strainer over the sink and dump all of their ingredients into a blender. Need a smoothie recipe? Look no further, our spinach smoothie recipe is kid-approved.
4.) Learn to read labels
Learning the parts of a food label is a lifelong useful tool. Have kids read food labels at home and ask them questions about serving size and the nutrition information per serving. Knowing how to read a food label can be useful tool in balancing decisions about eating healthy and unhealthy foods. Use your school menu to quiz children about healthy and unhealthy menu items.
These are some of our best tips and tricks to empower kids to take control of their health and make healthy choices, with or without you there. Let us know how you are choosing to empower your kids, share your ideas and recipes with us by tagging Feed Our Future Ohio.