Didn't Your Parents Ever Tell You To Eat Your Vegetables?

I came across this article which offers great advice on how to raise your kids with nutritional values:

http://www.girlstalk.com/blog/2012/02/27/raising-healthy-eaters/

My favorite portion of the article was as follows:

Start separating. Many kids like separation of various foods on their plates. They often don’t do well with casseroles initially. Try to keep their portions small and praise them for trying new foods, even if they don’t want more. It’s a process, not a race.

Teaching children to pick and eat healthier food can be like a roller coaster. One minute your child likes the food, the next minute they don’t even want to look at it. It will be an easier process if the parents are consuming nutritious options, or at least trying for the sake of their child. It’s definitely not going to be easy if you’re on one side of the table eating the same foods and your child is told to eat something entirely different. Children are always curious about what their parents are eating.

Consuming the same healthy meals as your child will help them to become more confident in what you’re saying. They will start to think that the food must be healthy because their mom or dad is eating it too. So whenever you’re having a family day out, bring a cooler with healthy options for the entire family. That way no one will be tempted to order less nutritional fare.

The author, Jasmine Burroughs highlights the importance of setting the example for children; eating the same foods they would be encouraged to eat. Even better, Burroughs suggests that foods shouldn't be too mashed together like a "casserole"; this makes it hard to determine which foods the child likes and dislikes. 

I take interest in this article also because it seems to coincide with my Human Development Psychology class. We were asked to create a preschool curriculum that reflects the ideals and practices of Jeanne Piaget. Piaget emphasizes the cultivation of early childhood development through social interaction among children. I, of course, decided to be in charge of the health and nutrition activities for the group project. So wouldn't it be great if children could learn at a young age how to have a balanced diet? I utilized the healthy eating plate from my previous blogposts to use as a model for the imaginary students to mock. The activity would go something like this...

The children get crayons. They use their crayons to divide up their plates into "vegetables" "fruits" "whole grains" and "healthy protein". Then, they would venture off to tables that were setup to have these four categories. Using their model, they would have to load up on the foods for the certain designated areas on their plates. Of course, I imagine preschoolers might be messy, probably whiny and at times uncooperative.  But hey, it's worth a try. It would take a lot more than one try to have these children get into the habit of a balanced diet. 

Hopefully schools will become more increasingly on board with valuing balanced diets. I'm currently doing a research essay relative to this topic. So stay tuned :)