Healthy Eating Habits
There are many things that adults can do to encourage healthy eating habits in young children, including:
- Don’t use food as bribes or rewards (especially “junk food”)
- Serve small portions (children’s servings are often only ¼ cup)
- Model good eating and exercise practices (at least one hour per day of physical activity)
- Don’t add salt or sugar to foods (studies show that this will actually decrease children’s desire for healthy foods)
- Provide a pleasant and relaxing dining environment
- Eat meals together as a family (extensive research shows that sharing family meals increases children’s nutritional intake and lowers the risks of eating disorders and drug/alcohol/tobacco use in the teen years)
- Set regular meal times but do allow snacking on healthy foods, since preschoolers’ stomachs are small
- Don’t require children to clean their plates, since most young children will naturally stop eating when full if not taught otherwise (Birch, Fisher, & Davison, 2003)
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