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Parents make a difference in children’s eating habits
By TERRY TEMPLEMAN, Ph.D.
Everyone knows that nutri on is
important for children’s health and
well-being, but parents some mes
underes mate the impact of their
own behavior on their children’s
ea ng habits. Here are a few help-
ful sugges ons from the research
on what works and what doesn’t in
ge ng your child to eat right.
What works
Model good ea ng habits. Eat
with your children and let them see
what you eat and how much you
eat. Eliminate distrac ons such as
TV and phones during ea ng. Focus
on the food.
Maintain a posi ve a tude
about food. Meal me is a good
me to talk about food, what you
like, how it tastes, where it comes
from, shopping for it, growing it,
how you prepared it, where you
got the recipe. Food is not only es-
sen al, it can be fun.
Provide your child with a variety
of nutri onal foods. Introduce your
kids to the world of food by trying
out nutri ous foods with diff erent
tastes, textures, smells and looks.
Take your kids shopping with you so
they can see the variety of vegeta-
bles, fruits, meats, fi sh, grains and
cereals that go into their meals.
Restrict access to non-nutri on-
al foods. Keep the chips, sodas,
candy, cookies and ice cream out of
sight or out of the house.
taste or texture. Avoid packaged
foods and fast foods, which are
high in salt and low in nutri onal
value.
Punishing bad ea ng habits.
Don’t punish or make fun of your
children for not ea ng their vege-
tables or trying something new, but
have them remain at the table. If
there is a variety of food in front of
them and they are hungry enough,
they will try something eventually.
Parenting
Tip
What doesn’t work
It’s not uncommon for children to
be wary about trying new foods,
especially foods with strong odors.
Ignore their disdain and enjoy the
food yourself. If they go to bed hun-
gry, they will be more likely to try
something healthy for breakfast.
S gma zing picky eaters. Avoid
name-calling or making remarks
about your child’s food aversion or
your child’s weight. Anxious chil-
dren are actually more prone to
overea ng!
________
Diet foods. Stay away from food
subs tutes such as powdered or
liquid concoc ons that have li le
Dr. Terry Templeman is a psycholo-
gist with Psychological Services of
Pendleton.