• Home
  • Services
  • About
  • Contact
  • Resources
  • Blog
  • Testimonials
  • Temperament Form
  • Workshops
Kerrie LaRosaParent Coach

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

5/2/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
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!

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    RSS Feed

    Author

    Kerrie LaRosa is a parent coach and a mother of two children. She draws on her professional expertise and personal experience to provide tired parents with some quick tips, resources and fun anecdotes.

    Archives

    June 2018
    February 2018
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    January 2016
    August 2015
    March 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011

    Categories

    All
    Activities
    Allergies
    Baby
    Behavior
    Birth Order
    Book Review
    Children
    Development
    Discipline
    Doctor
    Gifts
    Halloween
    Holidays
    Language Development
    Learning
    Living In The Moment
    Moving
    Parenting
    Persistence
    Picky Eating
    Play
    Reading
    Resolutions
    Safety
    Sharing
    Sleep
    Speech
    Storm
    Stuttering
    Superstorm Sandy
    Tantrum
    Temperament
    Traditions
    Travel
    Waiting
    Yelling

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from brettneilson, rolands.lakis, koroshiya, beelerspace, kellywoolen, Amy McKenzie, nerissa's ring, surlygirl, Enrico Matteucci ☸, aarongilson, dawnhops, Peter Werkman (www.peterwerkman.nl), jem, National Assembly For Wales / Cynulliad Cymru, erin_everlasting, christine [cbszeto], emrank, imcountingufoz, frotzed2, ebmarquez, rumpleteaser, brewbooks, ToddMorris, nutrition education