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Adventure Awaits! Encourage Food Exploration in Your Littlest Eaters

Adventure Awaits! Encourage Food Exploration in Your Littlest Eaters

It’s natural for moms to worry about their preschoolers’ eating habits. Offer healthy foods and let your kids choose from them. They’ll be more likely to enjoy mealtime and eat enough. Read on for four key tips to remember when feeding your kids.

1. Get kids involved in preparing meals.
Kids learn from doing and are likely to try foods they’ve helped make. Easy tasks like putting napkins on the table, tearing lettuce leaves, or picking grapes off the stem are good for little hands.

2. Set a positive example.
Offer the same foods to everyone. Making multiple meals is more work for you and doesn’t help kids learn what to expect from mealtimes.

3. Set regular times for meals and snacks.
This helps kids learn when food will be available during the day. Avoiding grazing throughout the day helps ensure kids are more likely to come to the table ready to eat.

4. Let kids pick what to eat and serve themselves from the foods you provide.
Mealtime is an excellent time for kids to learn how to listen to their bodies. Allow children to eat as much as they’d like and stop when they are full. This is an important skill that can support healthy growth and development into adulthood.