Our toddler wants to be held from time to time. He can even grip to my waist with his feet so that I can’t put him down. Well, that means that I have to do the next couple of tasks while holding a baby. The problem is, when I enter the kitchen, from in my arms, he sees the crackers, or the cookies, or maybe even the pop-tarts. Now I have to decide whether I’m going to give in to the non-healthy snack or if I’m going to go through the effort to try and switch out to a healthier snack! It can be a real problem. If I give in to the sugar laden snack, then it is less likely that he will eat a good lunch or dinner. What a predicament!
Well, we have tried a few things that seem to help.
1. Put away opened cookie packages and cracker boxes. Put the candy bowl in the cupboard as well.
2. Cut up a few strawberries, put them in a small Tupperware container and maybe add some raspberries and blueberries to the container. When it seems like my toddler needs a snack, we can pull the container out of the refrigerator and have an instant good-for-you snack.
3. Freeze gogurt tubes and pull those out of the freezer instead of the freeze-pops.
4. Set a good example by eating healthy snacks as a family. Everyone can have a fruit, a carrot slice, raisins, or pop-corn instead of cookies or pastries.
Making Mealtime for Toddlers Healthier
1. Each meal needs to include a vegetable and/or a fruit. Your toddler needs to get used to the idea that a meal includes vegetables and fruit. This can be a healthy habit that last a lifetime!
2. Add a few frozen vegetables to pasta. Put a few more vegetables on your pizza. Put a small bowl of cherry tomatoes on the table for lunches.
3. Add some cauliflower to mashed potatoes or cut it up fine, season it and serve it as rice. (https://minimalistbaker.com/how-to-make-cauliflower-rice/) Switching a starch for a vegetable can make a difference.
4. Keep foods safe! Remember to cut up hot dogs into manageable pieces. Remove pits from cherries. Whole grapes can be choking hazard, try cutting them in half. Raw carrots, celery, and even cooked green beans. Large chunks of pretty much anything can be a problem for toddlers to swallow.
5. Make meal times fun. Don’t stress over how much they eat, the kind of mess they make, or how they play with the food before they eat it.
6. Eat as a family. The family table is where relationships start!
Meals can be fun, healthy, and an important part of every toddler’s life!
See how to keep kids entertained while working from home: http://austinsgift.com/how-to-keep-kids-entertained-while-working-from-home/
Reading makes a big difference in a child’s life. If you are looking for a few good children’s books, try these ones: http://austinsgift.com/books-by-dean-and-brenda-giles/