Come on, just one more bite......

Parents want their children to eat and eat well (of course!). So, many parents will go to great lengths to get their children to eat. I have heard some creative ways parent have gotten their child to eat: playing games, giving time outs for not eating spinach and hiding chicken in yogurt (hmmm tasty, huh?), in addition to the standard, "just one more bite", "you can't get up from the table until you finish everything on your plate" and "eat your broccoli and then you can have dessert".

Unfortunately, these meet some short term goals of getting children to eat, but it does not meet the long term goal of helping children develop a healthy relationship with food and developing healthy eating habits.

Here are some techniques for teaching healthy eating:

1. Include your child in the process:
 - grow vegetables in your garden
 - take your child grocery shopping
 - recruit your child to help cook and bake
 - encourage your child to help set the table and serve the food 

2. Make mealtimes enjoyable
 - give your child ample time to transition from play to mealtime
 - start the meal with a toast or a prayer
 - use the opportunity when you are sitting down to talk about the     day or tell stories
 - try and sit down as a family as often as possible
 
3. Serve the meal family-style
 - place the bowls on the table, family style and let your child serve herself what she wants and how much
- include something at the table that you know your child will eat

4. Let your child take it from there
 - avoid games,  cajoling, and convincing your child to eat
- let your child choose what and how much to eat (as long as it is what is being served)
- don't cook special, separate meals
- model healthy eating. Eat what you want your child to eat and only keep things at home that you want your child to eat.

Happy and Healthy Eating!

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