Posted by Super Foods We Love on
5 Easy Tips to Introducing New (Super) Foods to 3 Year Olds
All parents know the challenges that they face when trying to get their children to start new eating habits. Many parents feel that there is a need to ensure their children eat a well balanced diet full of healthy fibres and vitamins and minerals, but they just don’t know where to start.
Often we hear comments like, my child only likes chocolate or my daughter doesn’t like greens, she just picks them out and eats the rest of the food in her bowl.
Well guess what? There is a way. It’s not as difficult as that little cute face smiling back at you makes out. And it’s certainly not impossible though I do understand there are moments when you feel like shouting at the top of a mountain in despair. Trust me I’ve been there too and it’s totally ok.
Would you like to know the secrets behind getting your child eating all those foods packed with nutrients that will protect your child as they grow and ensure that they develop good healthy eating habits?
So here we go:
- Make sure that you only introduce foods that you love yourself. These smart little kids know when they are being singled out for special food treatment. So help them feel like they are part of the crowd. Kids love mimicking adults. So showing them that you too are enjoying the same foods is a great way to help them break through start eating any healthy foods on a regular basis
- Make it fun. Kids only love doing things that are fun. So take the opportunity to make this a fun experience. Hey if you eat this food you’ll be a strong as dad or pretty as mummy. Act out how they will feel while eating a piece of broccoli or vegetable or fruits. For my daughter we’ve used. Eat your broccoli and this will make you strong and pretty. (I’ll do this while doing the old pop eye look or pointing to my sister and females characters that my daughter loves).
- Introduce Super Foods as snacks replacements. I recently swapped out raisins for Goji Berries. We played with the berries, made stories of how they are tasty and yummy. And before you know it Alexa was munching on these tasty healthy snacks every day.
- Have a food routine. Kids love routine and simply introducing the same food at the same time each day reenforces that this is great food that they should be eating. This could be after meals or snack time or in the morning at breakfast.
- Always explain the benefits to your child. They may not understand the words you use but they will feel the positive energy and want to follow you.
BONUS TIP: This has to be the most important tip i could share with you. Make eating these foods into a game. We did this with broccoli and this kick started Alexa eating almost any food we choose by using this method. Find two bowls. One for your child and one for you as the adult. Make sure you both have the same food. It’s all about equality here, so throw out those kiddy foods and give your child quality foods that you will love yourself. In this first case we used steamed broccoli. And we played the cheersing game.
Ok I hear your saying what’s that. Well as adults when we celebrate with a glass of wine we say cheers and knock our glasses together before we take a sip. We turn this same concept into an eating game. Cheersing broccoli or almost any other food and what do you know, well Alexa eats almost any foods we want her to eat now. Try this and see if this works for you?
I’d love to hear your feedback and if this was useful please share and like our Facebook Page.
Also Subscribe to our mailing list to receive super food we love offers which we will be send out on a regular basis.
Loving Healthy Eating
Kelvin