Do you have a child that eats only one thing? Recently I spoke to my sister, a first grade teacher in Dade County, about this very subject. One of her students eats chips and cookies for lunch. His mother packs his lunch every day and when he forgets it, the school is reluctant to sell him a school lunch. They felt it was a waste because he would not eat it anyway. One day my sister went with him to get a lunch. Dannie (my sister) felt it would be better than nothing. He ate it. Why? Because she told him he needed to eat some of his food before eating things like cookies. His mother was floored.

This is a common problem with children. But it is one that is easily remedied. Parents control ninety percent of children’s access to food. Have your child participate in purchasing things that are nutritious. Set up healthy choices by asking questions like, “Which green vegetable will you pick for dinner this time?” or “Will you pick the yogurt?” Children love being in control.

Fill a snack bowl with fruit, nuts, carrots and other “grow food” that is wrapped individually. Again, the children are in control when they go to the refrigerator to pick a snack. Chips are fine occasionally, but they should not be a staple in the house.

Your little person will not starve if they don’t eat Mac-and-cheese for every meal. If your child does not want to eat dinner the night you have broccoli casserole. Don’t make him. It will be his choice to eat the dinner or go without.

Who do you know that would not love to eat Girl Scout cookies for dinner? It is up to us as parents to teach our children why we don’t eat cookies for dinner. With loving guidance from you, your child will learn that there are lots of wonderful, tasty, healthy foods to enjoy.

Tags: Health, Kids, Patrice Roux-Neal, St. Marks Ark

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 9:07 pm and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.