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Just like adults, kids need a balanced and healthy diet to stay energized and focused in school. With childhood obesity on the rise, encouraging healthy eating habits is more important than ever. However, it can be tough to ensure your child is eating well when they’re not at home. At school, vending machines, sugary snacks, and sodas are often readily available. We’ve compiled tips for encouraging healthy eating in schools to help keep your kids on track.
Be a Good Role Model
Kids will naturally imitate their parents, so the first thing to do is to be a good role model. Children are likely to follow your lead when it comes to eating, whether you realize it or not. If you make healthy food choices at home, they will be more likely to do the same.
Pack a Lunch
Another way to make sure your child eats well in school is to pack them a healthy lunch. This gives you control over what they eat and helps them avoid unhealthy options, like vending machines and cafeteria food. Try packing lunch with fruits, such as apples and grapes, vegetables, such as carrots and celery, whole-grain bread and crackers, low-fat cheese slices, and yogurt or fruit cups.
Serve a Variety of Foods
Offering the same foods all the time can become boring. Rather than giving your child a fruit cup every day, break up their routine with some variety and serve them applesauce or dried fruits. You can even use some of the best fruits and vegetables for juicing to make a drink and pour it into an insulated bottle to keep it cold throughout the day.
Involve Them
Kids love feeling like they’re in control, so let them help you prepare meals and snacks. They’ll be more likely to eat what they helped make, and they’ll also learn about healthy eating at an early age. You can also take your child to the grocery store with you and let them pick out fruits or vegetables.
Limit Unhealthy Snacks
While it’s OK to allow your child to indulge in some treats, you don’t want them eating too much junk food. Allow them to snack, but stay firm with these limits.
Be Patient
It won’t happen overnight, but you can encourage your child to eat healthily with time and patience. Children will often eat only a certain type of food or refuse to touch green vegetables, no matter how hard you try. But if you encourage them, get creative with food prep, and continue to be a good role model, they’ll eventually come around!
Conclusion
These six tips for encouraging healthy eating in schools are a great place to start, but there are many other ways you can help your child eat healthily. Create an action plan, stay consistent, never force them to eat what they don’t want, and be patient. Your goal is to enforce healthy eating like a normal routine, and with consistency, your child will get there in no time!
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