Healthy Food For kids || 6 Ways to Make Your Little One Love Nutritious Food for Children
Ensuring adequate nutritional intake for your little one is the mother's responsibility. But maybe you need extra effort to get your little one to eat nutritious food for children such as vegetables, fish, tofu, or tempeh. Though the habit of eating healthy and nutritious food is very useful for the optimal growth of the little one until later adulthood.
Your little one may refuse nutritious food because it tends to be bland, unpleasant, or boring. So he chooses foods that he likes, such as sweet foods or those that have a strong aroma and taste.
But Mother need not worry. There are many ways to motivate your little one to love nutritious food. Like:
1. Avoid fast food
When watching television, your little one may often see advertisements for fast food types, such as hot dogs, hamburgers, or French fries, so they are tempted to ask Mother to buy them when traveling to the shopping center. Children even tend to choose fast food menus rather than home food.
Don't worry, Mother, there is a solution for this. Mother only needs to provide time to prepare fast food a la home which is more secure for the little one. For example, Mother makes crispy fried chicken and nuggets that your little one will definitely like. By making your own, you can of course slip extra nutritious food ingredients such as vegetables or carrots into the home-style fast food. In addition to being the main meal, you can serve it as a snack.
2. Creative in processing and serving food
Yes, Mother's creativity in processing nutritious menus will "tempt" your little one to love him. If you usually cook clear spinach, you can start trying to make meat and vegetable sandwiches by inserting spinach. It's guaranteed that your little one will like it because the boring spinach dish has changed shape.
In addition to creative preparations, you can serve nutritious food for children with a look that your little one likes. For example, vegetable bread in the form of a gingerbread doll complete with eyes, mouth, and nose. Mother's creativity will eliminate the perception in the little one's head that healthy and nutritious food must be boring and unpleasant.
3. Regularly introduce a variety of nutritious foods
To grow the interest of your little one, you must regularly introduce a variety of balanced nutritious foods. For example, Mother does not only process broccoli continuously, but also carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, eggplant, and fish alternately. You can also make variations by mixing two or three types of vegetables in one dish.
Invite your little one to taste a variety of healthy and nutritious foods that you make. Then give understanding that he must taste the food, before saying "don't want" or "didn't like it". This variety of nutritious foods will show you the types of nutritious foods that your little one tends to like.
4. Nutritious food as the only option
Gradually, your little one will like healthy and nutritious food if they have no other choice. For example, Mother always fills the refrigerator and dining table by serving nutritious food, such as fruit, milk, ice cream, yogurt, bread, or vegetables, your little one will feel that only nutritious food can be eaten.
Also avoid storing instant food, containing excessive flavoring, or being too sweet at home. If good habits are started early, your little one will get used to healthy and nutritious food.
5. Not getting used to your little one eating outside
Snacks can be a bad habit for your little one. Especially if he often eats confectionery, various sweet drinks, or colored and oily snacks. Besides being unhealthy, snacking habits also foster a consumptive lifestyle in your little one. For that, you should be diligent in making home-style snacks for your little one so that he can snack on nutritious food.
6. Storytelling
Your little one likes to hear fairy tales or stories from Mother. Now, through storytelling, Mother can also mention the importance of vegetables, fruit, and other types of food that contain nutrients to your little one. For example, the story of a child who was strong because he ate broccoli so that he managed to defeat a terrible monster.
Often hearing stories about nutritious food can instill the importance of the menu in the little one's brain. Who knows your little one is inspired to eat vegetables or fruit because he wants to be a strong child-like the fairy tale Mother told.
Making your little one love healthy and nutritious food is not easy, but you can start by giving an example. When you see how much you like nutritious food, your little one will get used to it and slowly love healthy and nutritious food too.