Archive | September 5th, 2012

Tips On How To Stop Your Toddler From Eating Junk Food

Everybody loves eating junk food, especially children. However, if your toddler is becoming a junk food junkie, you might need to reassess his diet in order to stop this unhealthy habit. Here are some tips to help you out.

Give Your Pantry A Makeover

Start your toddler’s eating-habit overhaul in the pantry. Examine it. Do you see bags of chips lined up in one corner? Clear out the chips and other unhealthy foods and replace them with healthy foods. If your toddler only sees bread, cheese, sugar-free cereals and fresh fruit in your pantry, that is what your little one will end up eating. Keep in mind that children will eat anything when they are hungry, so the “I want junk food.” declarations will not last long.

Offer Healthy Substitutes

Swap junk foods with more nutritious options. For instance, instead of offering junk food during snack time, give him cheese sticks or fruits instead. Buy whole grain bread and cookies instead of those goodies made with white flour.

Another effective tip is to use healthier cooking techniques. Instead of frying potatoes to make French fries, why not bake or grill them. Rather than serving sugary cereals, offer your toddler a hot cereal with a little cinnamon or other spices (e.g. nutmeg, brown sugar and honey). This way, you give your toddler something healthy while he can continue enjoying the foods he loves to eat.

Keep It Fun

Make healthy foods fun to eat. Cut sandwiches into funny shapes, slice different fruits to make a fruit salad, dip veggie sticks into yummy sauce and turn pancakes into smiley faces by placing eyes, nose and mouth using raisins.

Wean Your Toddler Slowly

A toddler who is so used to eating junk food will have a hard time letting go. Do not just restrain your little one from eating junk food at once. Take it slow. Replace potato chips with lightly flavored vegetable crisps and pudding with low-fat yogurt. The secret is to strike a balance between healthy and junk foods in your toddler’s diet. Gradually decrease your toddler’s intake of these foods until he is eating no more than one serving per day.

Talk About The Consequences

Stick a food chart on the wall and help your toddler identify the good foods and bad foods. Talk to him about the effects of eating junk foods and why eating healthy food is better. Read a book or watch a video about healthy eating so he will be able to understand your point better.

Be A Role Model

Practice what you preach. Toddlers love imitating their parents, so if you want your toddler to stop eating junk food, be aware of the foods you eat in front of your little one. Set a good example by limiting your own junk food intake. Once he sees you eat fruits instead of chips, he will follow you.

Finally, do not prohibit junk food completely as this will only make it more tempting. Allow him to eat one or two servings every now and then, say, once a week. Everything in moderation will not hurt your toddler.

Posted in Food, Kids NutritionComments (0)

Drinking Water For Children – Ways To Get Your Toddler To Drink More Water

Children should drink at least six to eight glasses of water a day. However, drinking water for children can be a constant struggle. Here are several ways to get your toddler to drink more water.

Make It Available

When you think your toddler is feeling thirsty, give him water. Even if he is not thirsty, ask him to drink a few sips. Once he starts, he will realize he is thirsty after all. Also, leave a sippy cup filled with water where your toddler can easily reach it so when he does get thirsty, he can just reach the cup and drink.

Do Not Offer Options

If your toddler is the type who prefers to drink soda and juice over water, it would be best to keep soft drinks and juices out of his sight. Or, you may impose a rule that your toddler is only allowed to get to the next beverage until his cup is empty. Sure, he may whine and complain at first, but that is okay. He will get used to it in no time.

Give Your Toddler His Own Water Bottle

Have a variety of fun and colorful sippy cups, water bottles and jugs available. You can buy affordable BPA-free plastic sippy cups, bottles and jugs. Have him pick out his own special containers. He will surely have a fun time filling and refilling the containers by himself.

Use Straws

If you give your little one a straw to drink with, water will taste yummy to him. Straws are inexpensive and readily available in grocery stores. Buy some heavy duty plastic straws, preferably straws sold in multi packs of different colors so you can wash and reuse them. Swirly, sports, connectible and glow straws are a big hit and they make drinking water more entertaining.

Flavor It Up

Water is tasteless, which may be the reason why toddlers detest drinking it. Flavored and colored water might just be the answer to your problem. Add sliced lemon, lime or orange to water. This will give the water a little color and taste. You may also put some food coloring in the water. In a clear glass, add 1 or 2 drops of food coloring so your toddler can see the color flow and transform his water from plain to cool.

Turn It Into A Game

Why not make drinking water a playtime activity? Here are two fun examples to try:

  • Buried Treasure – Place a slice of lemon or banana at the bottom of a clear glass of water and let your toddler try dragging up the fruit with the pressure from a straw. Your toddler will gulp up a lot of water just so he can retrieve the fruit.
  • Musical Cups – Fill a few clear glasses to different levels and have him tap them with a pencil. Explain to him that with every sip, the notes will change in pitch.

Keep It Cold

As much as possible, offer a cold glass of water. Put some ice cubes in his glass to keep the water cool. Toddlers love drinking anything cold especially after playing outside. It will be such a refreshing treat.

Set An Example

Be an example and drink water yourself. If your toddler can see you drink water, he will do it as well. Remember, children tend to imitate what they see, especially their parents’ actions.

Water is crucial to a toddler’s health. It keeps children healthy and when they are healthy, they feel good and perform better.

Posted in Food, Kids NutritionComments (0)

A Parent’s Guide To Kids and Video Games

Parents and kids do not always see eye to eye when it comes to video games. Stopping children from playing them is not an option. So in order for parents to successfully deal with this problem, they need to understand some things about kids and video games.

Why Children Love It

Children love immersion. They love getting their heads into things and stay with them for a long time. Video games have enticing graphics, fast processing speed and booming audio which makes them more alluring. Children feel they have control and freedom to do things they may not be able to do in the real world (race cars, play sports with pros, wrestling, etc.). In other words, video games give children a break from reality.

How Much Is Too Much?

Everyone knows that video games can be very addictive, even 30-year old individuals spend a lot of hours in front of the computer screen. Too much time spent playing video games have negative effects. Experts recommend that young children should only be allowed one to two hours of screen time per day. However, there are no magic numbers. The only way to strike balance in your toddler’s daily activities is to encourage a variety of activities that does not include the “screen”.

The Pros and Cons

Advantages

  • Video games help sick toddlers. Absorption in a game diverts the mind from pain and discomfort, especially toddlers undergoing painful treatments.
  • Improves mental dexterity. A toddler’s ability to take on cognitive challenges is increased which enhances cognitive skills including organized thinking and pattern recognition.
  • Boosts hand-eye coordination.
  • Enhances awareness.
  • Better social skills. Video games promote teamwork. It also helps toddlers gain self-esteem.

Disadvantages

  • Decreased interest for other activities and hobbies
  • Less socialization
  • Poor school performance
  • Health complications (e.g. fatigue, obesity, eye problems)

How To Supervise Your Child

Set A Schedule

Allotting a specific time for playing video games is the best way you can manage your toddler’s video game time. You may let your little one to play for 30 minutes to an hour. Having a schedule is very beneficial as it allows time for your toddler to complete assignments, chores, participate in other activities (arts, music and sports), play with other children, bond with the family and rest.

Screen Video Games

Letting a 4-year old play God of War or Grand Theft Auto is really inappropriate for his age. Choose video games according to your toddler’s interests or what you would like your toddler to be exposed to more. You do not have to necessarily choose educational games all the time. Games with colorful graphics, intriguing searches and a stress-free setting (e.g. Big Brain Academy, NBA and Little Big Planet) work just fine.

Set The Video Game System In The Living Room

Make playing video games a social, rather than a solitary activity. Set it up in your family room or somewhere you will be able to keep an eye on your little one while he is playing. This will make it easier for you to reinforce your rules and for your toddler to follow them.

Engage

Why not play a video game with your toddler? Children love it when parents play with them. If you do not want to play, just sit beside him and watch. This way, you get to model to your toddler the significance of family togetherness and proper time management.

In addition, introduce other fun activities you can do together like going for a walk or riding a bike, swimming, visiting a zoo, playing board games or working on puzzles.

Create A Reward System

Create a reward system where your toddler will have to work for video games. For instance, you can allow your toddler an hour of game play for an hour of chores or in exchange for good grades. This technique forces your toddler to make video games an extracurricular activity and to divert his free time in a way that will benefit him in the long-run.

Game play is not a bad thing. It is perfectly okay as long as there is parental involvement and you make it a bonus activity for your toddler.

Posted in Playtime, Toddler GamesComments (0)


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