Help Your Children Make Healthier Snack Choices
Although you may be serving your children healthy, nutritious meals, you may be unhappy with their choice of snack foods. Parents want to make sure that their children are both happy and healthy. When it comes to snacking, however, it is often difficult to find nutritious snacks that children will eat. The tips and ideas in this article should help you and your children discover healthier snack options that will make you both happier and healthier – and put an end to the never-ending disputes about unhealthy snacks.
You cannot realistically expect children to give up a favorite snack food just because you tell them that it is not good for them. As long as the junk food is available in your home, your children will want it. It is your responsibility to get rid of all candies, sugar-filled cookies and other unhealthy snacks lying around the house. Instead, fill your home with more nutritious items that your children are likely to eat such as fruit cups, fresh fruit or low-fat cheese cubes. When your kids need a snack, they will grab whatever is available – but don’t expect them to choose between greasy potato chips and a banana or orange; make sure the only choices available are healthy ones.
Spend one evening each week making something with your kids. They will certainly appreciate the time you spend with them, and that will make them more likely to enjoy what you make together. Try making gelatin together, or a fruit salad that they can enjoy for several days. Try orange gelatin with mandarin orange sections added to the mix. There are many recipes available online and you can even have your kids help you find things to try. The bigger part they play in the decision making, the more they will like what they end up having.
Healthy snack options for warm weather include frozen natural fruit juice that you can slice unto plates and serve with fat-free whipped cream or frozen yogurt in the flavors your children like best. Frozen grapes or blueberries are another snack idea that is full of nutritious vitamins. Any of these make a tasty snack that children can enjoy without harming their health.
On chilly days you can give children non-buttered popcorn with a little parmesan cheese sprinkled on top, or you could slice some apples, sprinkle lightly with brown sugar and bake in a pan until the sugar bubbles and serve over low-fat yogurt. Cinnamon toast and peanut butter spread over warm waffles also make tasty (and healthy) cold weather snacks. Raisins, dried figs, dehydrated bananas and pineapple chunks are power-packed, nutritious snacks that will keep for long periods.
When it’s all said and done, if the junk isn’t where they can get to it, and better choices are right there in front of them, they will make better choices. Keep offering them good things until you have a list of things they like, and keep those things in front of them. Make it easy for them to be successful and set a good example for them.
For the many parents who are pressed for time, using a crockpot is one way of making sure children eat healthy food. You can use hundreds of slow cooker recipes to prepare nutritious meals in a crockpot. Instead of staving off a child’s hunger with snacks, throw the ingredients into the pot as you leave your home in the morning, and your child’s meal will be ready to serve as soon as he or she gets home from school.
Michelle is an expert author whose niche is writing about basic, yet delicious, household cooking. Her posts typically stress the added benefits of crockpot recipes such as crock pot chicken, which is one of her favorites.
