“My child will only eat cocoa puffs,” she told me. “Do you have any suggestions?”
I had to resist my urge to ask her what on earth she was doing giving her toddler cocoa puffs in the first place. It is not at all unusual for toddlers to decide on a food of the month and eat that. In our own house we have had a cheese phase, a carrot phase, a pea phase, and apples phase, and a chicken phase. This is normal and while it’s obviously good to keep offering things, you don’t need to worry about it. But her example brings me to my first tip: Don’t buy junk food!! Your child will never want Cocoa Puffs if they’re not in the house.
But what if you’re not in the house? I found it was easy to resist junk food when my kids were all at home. Then we started lessons and then a Dunkin Donuts opened up accross the street from the Y! I found that I needed a new sneaky trick to thwart the excuse to go grab a donut and coffee. (Just to clarify–the coffee was for me.) Tip #2 is plan ahead! Even if you buy pre-packaged snacks, buy healthy-ish ones like graham crackers or whole wheat crackers. Bring water or 100% fruit juice. If you can make something then all the better. Then you have no excuse to stop and grab something unhealthy.
Tip #3 is Practice the lost art of saying no. Why this is a lost parenting skill I’ll never understand. You don’t have to buy your child junk food because they really want it, because they whine, because the cause temper tantrums or anything else. Just say no. Offer an alternative. If your child is really hungry, the alternative will suit him just fine.
Despite what I just said, I also believe in teaching kids moderation. Children under 2 should never have anything laden with sugar but the older children get and the more they’re exposed to, the more likely they are to discover various treats. So Tip #4 is use the occassional treat as a reward! An ice cream cone or a piece of candy makes an excellent goal for some hard earned allowance.
Tip #5 is to make sure your kids get plenty of exercise. Kids should be active at least one hour per day and if they get more–great. Yes, this obviously combats obesity (as does healthy eating) but this is one of those ’sneaky’ tricks I keep alluding to. Children who are active. . .are hungry. Children who are hungry are much more likely to eat anything you put before them.
Sneaking healthy food into my 5 kids every day,
The Sneaky Mama
