Key Parenting Tips for Feeding Your Family
Feeding and positive parenting are linked. Feeding your child requires parenting skills that include the careful blend of structure with patience, tolerance, and understanding. It means setting boundaries. It is not about forcing your child to eat just because "I said so," nor is it allowing children to graze for food as they please. Consider the following tips:
- Eat together. Model eating slowly and make mealtimes pleasant. Regular family meals improves communication and means better eating habits
- Remember that parents decide what, where and when to eat. The child decides whether to eat and how much
- Include your children in family meal planning. Make it fun. Ex. Let them choose a different color vegetable for each day of the week, or chose one day where they can select their favorite fruit for dessert
- Plan for snacks and put a stop to continuous snacking. It often leads to overeating
- Plan healthy snacks that are low in sugar and fat, at specific times during the day
- Be a role model. Children learn best by example. If you drink milk, so will your child. Children are more apt to be active if they see their parents physically active
- Discontinue the "Clean your plate" Club and "Just one more bite" Society
- Put an end to telling kids to eat everything before they can have dessert
- Turn off the television at mealtime. Mealtime is a chance to connect with one another, and share your ideas. The TV is distracting and interferes with family communication
- Never discipline a child by withholding food. This gives food a role it should not have. It creates fear in a child and it upsets healthy eating
- Never use food as a reward
- Say "No" to snacking at the computer, in front of the TV, or video games. Feeding and parenting go hand in hand. Seize the chance to set your child on the road to healthy habits that can last a lifetime
