Making your kids eat healthy can be quite challenging. In a world surrounded by Mac n’ cheese, hot dogs, $1 value meals, cookies, candies, and more, it can be difficult to teach your kids what’s good food vs bad food. Here are a few guidelines to help you introduce them to healthy eating:
Stop saying No
No is a powerful word. It indicates limitations, triggers rebellion, and above all does not give the child a real reason why he or she cannot eat something. Instead of saying, “No, you can’t have ice cream,” you could say, “Let’s try the same thing made at home.” Make them a banana chocolate ice cream or a coconut milk vanilla bean ice cream. There’s no reason they won’t like it. It’s still ice cream! And that’s exactly what they care about.
Create a fun night in the kitchen
Teaching kids by example is very important. Studies show that people can grasp information and learn better by doing than just listening. Host a slumber party with their friends and teach them all to make raw cookies or raw ice cream. You don’t have to go 100% raw, you could make raw chocolate fondue and dip biscotti in it. This would make a memorable and fun event. And they’d learn to appreciate raw food.
Teaching without forcing
You can’t excite your kid by saying, “Hey! Come sit here and let me teach you the benefits of raw food.” It doesn’t work that way. You have to learn to give random information at the right time. For example, if they go grocery shopping with you and you pick carrots, you could say, “I’m going to make yummy carrot cake. Carrots are high in Vitamin C.” Or if they’re at the table eating, you can say, “I had a tummy ache, this honey-based drink made it better.”
Kids grasp these statements and they learn in the long run.
Learn by watching
Kids observe everything. I have memories from when I was three to four years old. You’d be surprised to know how much they watch and learn. Let them learn by watching. Let them watch you make smoothies, watch documentaries with them on health, let them watch you read articles, let them watch you talk about good health. All this information gets registered in them and eventually they apply these things in their life when they’re ready.
Wanting your kids to transform overnight into raw foodists, or restricting them a lot has its own cons. Teaching them the right way and giving them the space to pick their own way of living is the best you can do. They will thank you someday for the amazing nourishment and knowledge you have instilled in them.
