Picky Eaters: There is help!

Helping kids develop healthy eating habits. (Part 3)

Well this week the tip I have to share fairly simple and highly effective. This is a technique I stumbled on somewhat unexpectedly, although I must say, had I really taken time to stop and recall past experiences, I would have realized the power of this technique and put it to use much sooner.

Have you ever tried to ask your spouse to do something another way, only to have your voice fall on deaf ears or end up in an argument? Well getting picky eaters to try new foods, or just eat a healthy balanced meal, can have exactly the same result. I recall many mealtimes that were filled with negotiations and arguments, prior to learning skills for dealing with this challenge.

So this week’s tip is: Let someone else help! Bringing your kids to one of our hand’s on cooking classes, allows them to interact with and learn directly from our nutrition experts. Inspiration and ownership of what they eat, along with the power to choose for themselves, results in an entirely new perspective for them – eating healthy food is no longer a chore, but rather a source of fun and pleasure.

Kids are welcome to attend our workshops and encouraged to be active participants. The enthusiasm of the kids as they participate often results in the parents being asked to stand back let the kids take charge of creating the recipes for you to eat. Nice reversal of roles isn’t it? So join us as we host workshop throughout the spring and summer. Sit back, relax and watch the magic happen.

Our next workshop is this Tuesday, May 25th. Contact us for more details;
michelle@bundlesofenergy.com

Picky Eaters: Dinner Time

Helping kids develop healthy eating habits - Part 2

Getting our children on board with eating healthy can be a significant challenge to say the least. This challenge is aided daily by the messages we all receive from high powered marketing ad campaigns that are everywhere. So how do we take this matter in hand and begin influencing our children in a positive, successful manner? In this week’s blog, I am sharing the first of many tips that I have learned in working my children as well as from other parents that have successfully navigated this issue.

Here is my tip of the week for dealing with picky eaters:

Dinner Time: Have you ever had the challenge of your child sitting down to eat and after just a couple bites they claim to be full or not feel well? If you have a picky eater at home, then you know this routine all too well…My son Sam, who just turned four, is a master at this particular technique. He has a list of reasons for not finishing his dinner that is longer than my arm. Here is how we handle this particular challenge with him…

I never make my son finish his dinner in one sitting. HOWEVER, it is an absolute rule that while he can leave the table when he claims to be full, he is not allowed any other snacks or food until he returns to the table to finish his dinner. If he is genuinely hungry and just does not want the dinner that was served, he may move straight into crying or negotiating for some other type of food. What we found however is that as soon as you give in and allow other food to be eaten in place of dinner, he immediately learns how to use this regularly to get what he wants instead of what may be best for his health.

This means that while we will let him leave the table, his plate of food will remain until he is ready to eat - even after all the other dishes have been cleaned up or removed from the table. This also means remembering that his uneaten dinner is still there.

Guaranteed, Sam will return within about a half hour of leaving the table, requesting something else to eat. He will constantly request other foods throughout the evening, and using his well honed skills, he will attempt to wait long enough that you may forget about his uneaten dinner. This is where you must stay sharp! It is a simple case of reminding him: Finish your dinner then you can have something else to eat.

This may require repeated GENTLE reminders. I recommend remaining calm-by first acknowledging that your child knows you well and will use many creative and effective tactics to get you to cave in and give them their way. Secondly, you must commit to following through on this technique-as soon as you give in and let them eat something other than their dinner, they WILL know they can get away with this again.

Thirdly, relax and do not force your child to eat. Every child will eat when they are truly hungry and they will not go hungry for long, nor will they get sick from not eating enough one night. If ever they choose to go to bed at night without a full dinner and you hold to this commitment, they will get the message that dinner matters. For certain they will try again to skip dinner and take you through the routine, but over time you will have successfully contributed to very healthy eating habits that will have a lifetime of benefits for your child.

Stay tuned next week as I continue to share more of the techniques I use to successfully deal with picky eating habits. Next week I will be talking about how to make eating enough veggies and fruit everyday a fun experience for your child. I encourage to you write comments to me with regards to your questions, concerns or personal success stories.

(Note: This blog is a continuation from May 7, 2010)

Picky Eaters: The Parent’s Perspective

Helping kids develop healthy eating habits.

How do we get our children to understand that eating healthy is good for them when sugary treats taste so yummy?

Children are bombarded daily - via television, radio, grocery store shelves, print ads, and more - with messages about what they should eat. Often those messages are the result of high powered marketing ads that are aimed at making money, not at creating genuinely healthy food for your kids. Children seem to be born as masters at manipulating their parents, and so when this skill is combined with the power of the ads that influence them daily, getting them to eat healthy can be a challenge.

Teaching healthy eating habits is a goal of most parents, but it can be full of challenges and obstacles. I was blessed with 2 amazing children that have taught me a lot about the challenges of dealing with picky eaters. My picky eater, Sam, starts each morning with a couple of bites of breakfast and then promptly moves on to relentless requests for candy. He is masterful to say the least, as are most picky eaters. They seem to be born with their instincts perfectly honed to know exactly how far to push us as parents; they know just when to cry, they know just how many times to ask, and they know just the right time to catch us...in a moment of distraction. You know, the moments when you will say yes to almost anything, without realizing what you just agreed to, because you are so focused on a particular task or deadline, or just desperate for a few moments of peace.

I have had good motivation to be alert to such tactics, as both my children are seriously impacted by some of the seemingly ‘harmless’ ingredients commonly found in junk food. I have spent the last 8 years learning to read labels and trying to gain an understanding of what is really in the foods my kids are eating. Any parent would be put on high alert if their children experienced night terrors as a result of eating red dye and this is exactly what occurred for my family. This personal experience was a blessing in disguise for my family as it put us on a path to healthy eating and has brought us tremendous awareness and benefits. In fact, it contributed to the creation of Bundles of Energy, which has begun opening the door to hundreds of people in transforming both their understanding of, and ability to, make the gentle shift to healthy, whole, natural foods.

My sons continue to educate me daily in how much there is to learn about raising kids and healthy eating. What worked on my older son typically does not work as well with my younger son, and so I am constantly on my toes creating or looking for new ways to keep him on track to eating well.

I want to help other parents out there with picky eaters by creating a series of blogs on my personal experiences. Stay tuned each week as I write about the actual techniques I have learned and developed to create success in dealing with these challenges. I encourage you to write comments to me with regards to your questions, concerns, or personal success stories, as it will be a learning opportunity for all of us.