Get Your Kids Involved!
by Samantha Wilkinson, MS, RDN, LD, Dolce Dietitian
August is Kids Eat Right Month!
Kids Eat Right Month is hosted by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Foundation. So this month, look out for all kinds of Dolce Diet blogs on kid-friendly, healthy snacks, dinners, lunches and breakfasts, along with other kid-friendly advice, like shopping with your kiddos! #DolceDietitian
Nutrition is such an important aspect of life. With so many bad food habits starting at such a young age nowadays, it’s time to take charge and set a sterling example of what it means to eat right and stay healthy. And we can do that the Dolce-Approved way!
Kids tend to copy a lot of what we do as adults. Is it a wonder as to why they have toy vacuums, razors, and kitchen sets? They even have adorable, child-sized shopping carts at most grocery stores now (and not those cheap plastic ones, the real deal). With this added feature in so many stores, it makes it that much easier to get your kids involved in your weekly shopping trips. This is the perfect opportunity to get them used to making proper choices and learning how to navigate through the store.
Something you’ve probably all heard is shop on the perimeters of the store and avoid the middle aisles whenever possible. This is something useful to teach your kids since it will get them used to gravitating toward the produce section, which is filled with color and nice aromas anyway. It’s a naturally attractive area for kids to gravitate towards. Take this time show them what real, whole foods look like. Use this opportunity to present to them “GO” and “WHOA” foods. This is a better way of deciphering “good” foods from “bad” foods as we don’t want to make negative connotations with foods, especially at such a young age. “GO” foods include your fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meat products, dairy products and whole grain products. “WHOA” foods would be your processed cereals/snacks/desserts, frozen dinners, sugary beverages and treats, and candy. The two lists go on and on, but I think you get the picture.
Now, there are some vital items we need from the inner aisles, such as, quinoa and oat bran, so we aren’t telling you to avoid the middle completely, just limit your exposure. This is where really teaching your kids about good choices becomes especially important. In the produce section, pretty much everything is at about waist-height of an adult. However, in the cereal, cookie, and chip aisles, the shelves go all the way down to the floor, perfectly at toddler/child level. This is where food companies get smart. They tell these stores to place specific products at certain eye levels so that you’ll will be naturally attracted to that product and purchase it.
A lot of soda and chip companies have their own employees stock the shelves in a specific manner to attract as much traffic as possible. The same goes for kids, who tend to be much more vulnerable, naïve and susceptible to the colorful packaging or cartoon characters that grace the front of the package. In this situation it is best keep your child on task and help you look for what you need, even if you’ve already found it. Keep them preoccupied by having them truly be a part of your food journey. They will be so distracted by trying to find that food item (what kid doesn’t love a good scavenger hunt?) that they won’t even realize the other temptations that lie before them.
Now, once you’ve gotten everything you need, paid, loaded into and out of the car, keep your kids involved by having them help you put the items away, and then having them help you prepare the next meal. Obviously you should do the chopping and cutting for safety reasons, but have them help by separating the foods, putting them in containers or sandwich bags, throwing away the scraps, washing the produce, cleaning the countertops and taste-testing! They will feel like they’ve helped so much, plus you can use this opportunity to teach them proper hand-washing and food-handling standards.
There are so many ways to get your kids involved and teach them valuable health lessons at the same time. Hands-on experience usually yields better retention of the information and a higher likelihood of putting those experiences into practice.
What other ways do you get your kids involved in your Dolce-Approved lifestyles? Share them with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #DolceDietitian.
