Recent studies in the UK have shown that a record number of children are leaving primary school severely obese. In fact, the statistics show that it is 1 in 25 - equating to over 22,000 children who are at risk of serious health problems.
There are several important steps which can be taken to avoid weight issues escalating, and one of the most important things to to build a healthy and stable relationship with food at a young age. This bond can start to be built in Early Years and there are several ways of promoting healthy eating without children even realising you are doing it! Below are some general ideas on how to promote healthy eating and minimise the risks of obesity becoming an issue later on in childhood.
Offer choices. Empower children by offering choices of healthy foods; giving them the choice even at an early age will introduce a bond with foods that they themselves have chosen to eat, without realising it is a healthy option.
Be patient, persevere! It is not easy to get some children to eat certain foods, but the changes don't need to be wholesale changes made all at once. Make small changes on a regular basis to introduce new food types into meals and you'll have them eating their greens before you know it!
Practice what you preach! It is vital children see you eating well, as their biggest influences, they will copy your habits! If you have a positive relationship with healthy food, it makes it much more likely that they will!
Don't bribe them! A big mistake people make is to deem some foods as "reward for eating foods" which creates a negative association with a food type. "Finish your broccoli and you can have some chocolate". This makes the broccoli seem less important - "If I eat it, I get nice, yummy chocolate as a reward - broccoli must be bad if i get something good for eating it. By all means use rewards, but be careful not to create food types into "good" and "bad".
For anyone who may be interested in learning more about healthy eating, we are currently offering a Level 2 distance learning course on Nutrition & Health. This course would be perfect for people working in childcare, in pre/after school clubs, parent & toddler groups, or any other similar settings. Please contact stuart@jptrainingsolutions.co.uk for details on how to apply.
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