How to Develop Healthy Eating Habits in Children

Do you love shopping? Obviously, yes! We all love to shop. When we plan to buy cosmetics, what do we look for in them? Most of you would say, natural or organic ingredients, right? Nowadays, we opt for organic products so that no harm comes our way.

But if you opt for natural products for yourself, shouldn’t you choose natural things for your child as well? As parents, it is our responsibility to develop healthy eating habits in children. Kids love to eat junk food but letting your kids eat junk is similar to you using cosmetics with parabens. Both are harmful.

Eating right is very important for all of us. As a parent, I feel it is my responsibility to make sure my child eats healthy foods. But the question is how do I make him eat healthy food? Everyone eats junk food. Sometimes, even we bribe our children. We let them buy their favourite candy if they behave properly or complete their homework. Being a mother to a 4-year-old, I would like to share my experience of dealing with such situations. Here is how I instilled the habit of healthy eating in my child. You can follow these tips too!

1. Be Your Child’s Role Model

My daughter is almost 4 now and I refrained from giving her ice cream. It sounds weird, but the fact is that I wanted my child to stay away from it and I am happy that she has not tasted it either. Even I haven’t had ice cream in these years; it helped me shed some kilos and my child learnt that ice cream is not good. A win-win situation for both of us! It’s not that easy but the point is that if we want our children to follow something, we have to follow it first. We are the first teachers to our child and home is their first school. What we teach them when they are young is what they will remember forever.

2. Do Not Force Your Child

Not always will we succeed in distracting our children. They will want to eat unhealthy food and on some days, you should let them. But then I can guarantee that it will be only on some days.

3. Do Not Bribe Your Child

We should teach them good habits but in a good way. Children are very smart and they imitate us for their benefit later in life. So, I avoid bribing my child.

4. Try Simple Recipes

Moms are very busy, and it is not easy for us to prioritise everything on our to-do list. When we are too busy, we might give muffins, mayonnaise sandwich, or ketchup roll to our child in their lunch box. But we should avoid this! There are lots of healthy tiffin recipes and snacks which can be made in no time. My daughter loves idli, uttapam, vegetable rice and sabudana khichdi. You can make healthy food at home in no time. So make it your priority and refrain from giving unhealthy stuff.

There is no one set rule for raising a child. Some of you might find these tips useful and some of you may have a different opinion. And it’s fine. As long as kids eat healthy food, we have no problem!

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