How I Teach My Children to Enjoy Healthy Food

Written by Karen @ To Work With My Hands, Contributing Writer.

It’s a battle every mother faces: getting the children to eat – and enjoy – healthy food.

“Start from the very beginning” – so much advice says. And while that’s true, it doesn’t guarantee success. As they grow and taste new things, see new things, and are in situations that give them opportunities to eat stuff that is downright bad for their bodies, a little creativity is needed to keep them on track.

My family still has plenty of room to improve, but I have found a few ways through the years to get my children in the habit of enjoying healthy food.

How I Teach My Children to Enjoy Healthy Food:

Make if fun:

This works especially well with the younger ones. If food is cute and fun, they’ll tend to eat it. And after they eat it several times, they usually find that they enjoy it.

Ideas:

One of my favorite snacks to make for my oldest son when he was small was celery carts. A rib of celery filled with natural peanut butter with raisin passengers and carrot wheels was his very favorite snack.
Try making a cuddly slice of toast by topping whole wheat bread with natural peanut butter and using bananas and raisins to make a cute bear face and ears.
Teach your children anatomy while they get a healthy dose of veggies with a human skeleton tray.
Serve cut fruit or veggies in colorful paper cupcake liners, or if your children are old enough, thread them onto plastic skewers.

Make it different:

Getting my children to enjoy fresh fruit has never been a problem, but even with a favorite food, it can sometimes get a little boring. A small change in presentation can make a big difference.

Try:

As long as they were old enough to handle them, my gang has loved frozen grapes.
Simply slicing an apple in a different way or using a spiral peeler/corer to slice apples makes things fun and prevents boredom.
And who says watermelon has to be served in chunks? How about sticks or balls?
When we have leftover smoothie from breakfast, I pour it into popsicle molds and they have a sweet – and healthy – afternoon treat.
Our basic homemade pancake batter gets rave reviews with the younger set when a pancake is poured in each child’s initial.
Make a boring sandwich special simply by using cookie cutters to cut the bread into favorite shapes.

Offer a healthy dip:

If they can dip it, they’ll eat it! One of the older boys discovered that they enjoyed sliced cucumbers dipped in red wine vinegar. Guess what? All the little children now eat cucumbers that way – and plenty of them.

Recipes:

Homemade hummus is so easy to makes and is a fun dip for veggies or crackers, or a smooth spread for sandwiches.
Find a few new homemade salad dressing to try, and offer them for dipping veggies or meat instead of commercial dressings and sauces.

Make it attractive:

If it looks inviting, it will attract their interest and attention. Yogurt parfaits are a fun and pretty way to get some health food into their bodies. Homemade yogurt and granola, along with some fresh fruit is not only good for them, but the varied textures and colors provide plenty of eye appeal as well.

Let them choose:

I have one son who gets totally excited when he finds out we’re having homemade instant oatmeal for breakfast. Off he goes to pull out all the jars of dried fruit, variety of nuts, cream, maple syrup, raw honey, and homemade vanilla extract. Having a buffet of healthy options to choose from gives them plenty of choices and they love the variety spread before them.

We do this with pasta salad and taco bars too. When all of their options are healthy, I don’t mind them picking and choosing what they’ll include on their plates.

With a little imagination, it’s easy to make healthier food choices appealing. Before you know it, your children will be creating their own healthy spins on mealtime and treats.

If you’d like more ideas, visit my Pinterest boards: Good Food, Snacks and Fun Foods.

How I Teach My Children to Enjoy Healthy Food