Engaging Your Kids When it Comes to Eating Healthy Foods

When it comes to eating healthy, it is highly important for kids especially since they are still growing. As parents we all know it can be difficult to get our children to eat healthy especially if we are dealing with picky eaters. So, here are a few tips to help even the pickiest of eaters and that can help with engaging your kids when it comes to eating healthy foods.

 

Introducing Your Kids to A World of Healthy Eating

Try getting your kids into gardening at an early age, especially if you like tending to a garden. It is not only a great pastime,  it is also fun and adds to quality time spent together. Plus you get a good workout while you are at it.

For little kids, cutting  fruits and veggies into fun shapes can make for a smoother transition to healthier snacks or substitutions. It sparks their curiosity and makes healthy eating less of a battle.

Plus you can enlist their help by handing them the butter knife, yes, I said butter knife (a flat, rounded knife with no sharp edge) . It may not be proper etiquette,  but for safety reasons it certain will do the trick (believe me, its personally tried and true and prevents accidents). We have tried my butter knife method to cut many fruits and some vegetables and it works just fine even with apples; however,  I would recommend limiting its use to just soft fruits.

Cookie cutters also make for a good,  quick way to safely cut fruits into fun shapes and make for healthy fast food.

Dinner knives like this with a thin serrated edge also work as well.  Also, it helps your kids feel good about themselves when they can help mommy or daddy cut up those fruits for their fruit salad or snack time.

 

 

You can also add vegetables your kids favorite meals,  spaghetti is a great one for incorporating fresh veggies whether you choose to dice them up into tiny pieces or simply puree a variety of veggies and add it into the spaghetti sauce (half a cup to a cup of mixed veggies usually makes for a tasty addition to plain spaghetti sauce or even one already packed with veggies).

 

To Dip or Not to Dip

Adding tasty (and healthy) dips can also make healthy foods fun for kids.

Next time, try a little bit of plain yogurt with a bit of agave syrup and or honey as a slightly sweetened dip for some fruits (apples,  melons, pineapples, cantaloupes,  pears, are just a few) and even vegetables (think carrots). This dip goes very well with these and will encourage your kids, especially the wee little ones to finish their fruits and veggies. Just be sure to not make it sugary as that will take over the taste and take away from the healthiness of eating fruits and veggies.

You can also switch things a bit and add a small amount of caramel for an added treat every now and then.

Fruit preserves or a simple blend of fruits are a great addition for creamy dips and yogurt blends and help make healthy snacks more appealing.

 

Tips for Making Healthy Snacking Work 

Take it slow when introducing new fruits especially when it comes to exotic fruits not just for the sake of allergies, but to give them time to get used to the taste. You can add a couple of pieces along with their favorite fruits or vegetables and see whether they notice.

If they don’t notice,  you can always make it into a game of what does it taste like and guess that  new vegetable (or fruit).

 

Wrapping It Up

Hope you find these toys and tricks helpful in engaging your kids when it comes to eating healthy foods. If you find this article helpful,  don’t forget to like and share on Facebook and other social media outlets. If you have other tips or tricks you would like to share or have us add to our article, please do take the time to post them in the comments section below we would appreciate it.

 

Thank you for reading our latest post. Be sure to subscribe so you can be notified on future articles.

 

#kids eating healthy #live a healthy life #veggies rule