Whether you’re fixing lunch for your toddler to eat at home or packing a lunchbox for him or her to take to school, young children need lots of healthy choices. Kids like to be able to choose from a selection of food options, and it doesn’t take much time to prepare foods that are healthy as well as easy for little hands to manage.
Pediatricians tell us that it’s normal for kids to experience day to day (or moment to moment!) fluctuations in the amount of foods they eat. Some days, kids might seem to be eating nonstop, while other days kids might seem to hardly eat more than a mouthful or two. The key for parents is to provide a variety of healthy foods for meals and snacks, giving kids a little freedom to pick and choose—but to pick and choose from lots of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and proteins like yogurt, cheese, and peanut butter.
The best place to start meal-planning is with fruits and vegetables. If you’re short on time, you can find many pre-sliced fruits and vegetables, ready to go as finger foods from the moment you buy them. It’s more affordable and only takes a few more minutes to buy whole produce and slice it yourself. Popular choices for kids are sliced bananas, apples, pears, mangos, carrots, sweet peppers, and cucumbers.
Try different foods with your child at home to find new favorites, and remember that tastes can change, so try and try again. It can also help to involve your child in the grocery shopping experience, which can include activities like looking at grocery store fliers together, making shopping lists, and of course going to the store.
If you look at processed foods for kids, you’ll notice that manufacturers have all sorts of marketing ideas to make food appear fun and visually appealing. Some of this simply involves putting movie and TV characters on the packaging, an idea you can co-opt by buying a lunchbox with your child’s favorite characters, letting your child decorate his or her food containers or bags with stickers, and so on.
Another idea to make lunch options both fun and easy to eat is to cut foods into different shapes. Rather than a plain old sandwich, what about cutting a PB&J into long triangles or tiny squares? You can also use cookie cutters in fun shapes. Or try a serrated knife, waffle cutter, or other kitchen tool to make different looking slices of cucumbers, carrots, and more.
Ideally, avoid processed foods, and give kids as many whole foods as possible. Try healthy crackers instead of potato chips. Substitute homemade wraps with soft tortillas for pre-packaged lunch kits. If you want to get creative, there are endless ideas online about how to put together easy, healthy versions of your child’s favorite foods such as mini pizzas that can be packed and eaten cold.
At SmartEarly, we give toddlers healthy, nutritionist-approved snacks in the morning and afternoon, and we integrate education about healthy eating into our school day. Working together, parents and teachers can show children through daily experience that healthy eating is an easy and natural choice.
