Health Tips - Kids’ Mealtime

Kids’ Mealtime Made Easy

Making kids eat is the most challenging task for many mommies. Mealtime can be made easy and simple. Read the tips to say goodbye to mealtime tantrums.

Tip-1 Don’t expect too much

The first and foremost aspect every mom should follow is not to expect a child to behave like an adult during the meal time. Your child can’t eat properly with plates and spoons as you do! Also, she / he can’t simply come and sit at dining table when you call ‘food is ready!’ They can’t eat the bowl full of food you offer. Manage and lower your expectations with the kids. However, you can easily follow a mealtime schedule to make things easier.

Tip-2 Eat at least one meal together as a family

This is a must for every family. Plan to eat one meal as a family, probably dinner, as mornings will be busy. Enjoy your meal, have a lot of fun talking with each other, crack jokes and share everything. This encourages your kids to join you all during the mealtime and have fun with family meal.

Tip-3: Decorate the dinner area to make mealtime pleasant

Your mealtime should be so engaging and tempting that children want to join you. You may eat as a family but care should be taken to avoid arguments during mealtime. Make dinner a pleasurable experience, not just limited to sharing jokes and interesting things. Rather, give a pleasant and nice ambiance to the dining area. Arrange your dining area nicely with proper utensils, decorative items and colourful accessories. You can invite your child to decorate the dining room nicely to create theambiance.

Tip-4: Don’t allow the child to involve in any other activity

Follow it as a strict rule with your kid to do one activity at a time! No playing with toys or no watching television during mealtime. The concentration should be mainly on food. It would be a good idea to share some interesting story with your child while eating.

Tip-5: Involve Your Child in Cooking

It doesn’t mean that you take help from your child while cooking. Just ask your child about the choice of ingredients or even the menu he or she would like to have. Take your child for grocery shopping, pick the choice of vegetables or fruits the child wants to eat and enjoy your cooking time involving your child. It acts as a motivational factor and reduces mealtime tantrums.

Tip-6: Favourite Food

The simplest way to make a kid’s mealtime easier is having at least one favourite food in the menu. Don’t bother whether it is potato chips or fries, just have a portion of your kid’s favourite food and make him or her eat the healthy choices along with the favourite ones. In many cases, you may simply skip feeding the oily foods.

Tip-7: No to CLEAN PLATE

It is very common for mommies to force children to polish off the food completely and leave a clean plate. When the children feel full they will stop eating automatically. Don’t force them to make the plate empty. Instead, feed them smaller quantity of foods. If you don’t force them, it will make the mealtime pleasant.

Tip-8: Don’t use food as an emotional counterpart

There are many ways to express your love and affection to children. Showing love and care through cooking delicious and healthy food is good, but parents shouldn’t do it with kids too often. Limit the food treats, if you don’t, food will be used as an emotional element. Children will use it to manage stress, happiness, sorrow, etc, which will lead to obesity, and other related health problems.

Tip-9: Set yourself as a good example

Kids imitate parents! Set yourself as a good example when it comes to enjoying and eating healthy choice of foods. Make sure that the entire family enjoys the mealtime and the foods. If someone in the family shows that he or she doesn’t like a particular food, the child may immediately replicate the same!

Tip-10: Don’t Rush during the Mealtime

Urge and haste during mealtime won’t make it pleasant and children definitely won’t develop interest in having dinner together with family. Don’t rush when you have food, give sufficient time for your children to eat slowly. Giving enough time will help your child to try out new foods. Spend at least half an hour for dinner.

So you have read and followed all tips on kids mealtime made easy!
One last word to conclude:

Let your child have some rest for around 15 to 20 minutes before dinner. Taking food immediately after studies or after playing may lead to consumption of lesser quantity of food due to tiredness.

With this I conclude the meal time tips! Come back tomorrow to watch something new and exciting.

Mood swings in Child

Mood swings are very common in children. They are mainly caused due to lack of attention from parents, improper sleep/ sleep deprivation, and hunger. The environment in which the child grows influences the mood of the child.

Don’t panic about frequent mood swings; diverting your kids into something they like the most will reduce it. Don’t forget to give them a good ambience of love and care.

How to enhance the mood in babies?

You don’t need to go for mood enhancers! Just make some little changes in the diet. There are plenty of foods that simply make your child happy.

Mood enhancing foods:

• Chocolates – I wonder if there is any kid that hates chocolates
• Yogurt – plain or flavoured
• Bananas!
• Nuts and seeds
• Lettuce and Spinach – Kids won’t be happy to eat these, but these can be added to their diet by making them part of their favourite foods.

Healthy Eyes

Healthy eyes with proper vision are a crucial part of overall child development. Yearly eye examination from a paediatric eye specialist is very essential to figure out any problems. Lack of sleep, watching television for longer hours, pollution, etc affect the vision. Genetics play a vital role in determining whether your child needs to wear spectacles like you or your parent. At 3 and 5 years, sharpness of the eyes and eye alignment will be evaluated by the physicians.

Eye examination is mandatory for:

• New born babies
• Critical examination is essential for premature babies
• Babies with genetic history of eye defects

Benefits of exercises for kids

Exercises have many benefits for adults. It is as beneficial to kids as well. The three amazing benefits of daily exercises for kids are:

• Stimulates the internal organs and aids in proper functionality
• Exercises for kids are completely fun – It reduces stress and anxiety and typical kids’ tantrums
• Aids sound and quality sleep, provides better sleeping pattern

Make your child do some little exercises to make them energetic and active. Let it be yoga or aerobics and simple at home exercises. Go for it.

How to make your child eat nutritious food?

Three ways to convert your picky eater into a well nourished child!

• Give a twist to your approach. Don’t store unhealthy, junk foods in your kitchen. Do not tell them, ‘You should not eat Pasta!’ Say, ‘Sorry dear, we don’t have pasta at home. I will get them for you shortly!’
• Seek help from your child when preparing food and explain the nutritive values of each food
• Don’t simply force the little ones to eat foods that they really don’t like.

Don’t Bribe the Children to Eat

The major problem with growing kids is they become picky eaters. ‘I don’t like this’, ‘I don’t like that’, ‘I want only cakes’, ‘I want only pizzas’, etc are common words many moms dread to hear from their children.

Picky eating is quite common and it will gradually change. However, there is a major aspect you should consider when you find your child becoming a picky eater!

DON’T BRIBE the CHILD!

Yes, don’t offer anything in return for eating healthy food choices.

For instance; if you eat vegetable soup, I will buy you a toy. If you eat fruits, I will get you French fries. Eat greens now, I will provide you cakes.

Bribing sets the wrong precedent for your kids and it won’t promote healthy eating habit! It will instead, develop a sneaky attitude to get bribed for everything.

What makes your child a picky eater?

Three reasons that make your child picky eater and fall for junk foods!

• Parents – Yes, of course. You give them plenty of options to choose from unhealthy choices of food. You are afraid of saying NO, as you see happiness in your children when they eat French fries, burgers and doughnuts.
• It is very easy to make unhealthy food. Boil noodles in minutes, ready to eat fries, just fry the frozen nuggets, Pastas, etc. It is just simple as that!

How children learn to like a food

It is not a matter of great concern as long as you child is healthy and active. But it will definitely do the child a lot of good if parents keep a watch and encourage the child to eat healthy.

Adults are attracted to foods that are well presented and which give out a welcoming aroma. Children are also tempted by food. Even with new foods adults take a liking very quickly but a child needs to try the food 5 to 10 times before she/ he likes it. It is up to the parents to be patient.

Exceptions are ice creams (even among ice creams some flavours are not easily liked) and chips! So, just don’t force them to eat something just because you have taken the time to make a new item thinking the child will like it. Cook a healthy nutritious food and let them try. Repeat it twice or thrice a week and let them take enough time to like the food.