Parent Corner
Good nutrition and healthy development go hand-in-hand
A lot has been reported recently
about the nation’s obesity epidemic and how it is now affecting
children. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), 15 percent (almost 9 million) kids ages 6
to 19 are overweight. This is triple the number of overweight
children in 1980. Additional research has shown that many more
toddlers are also overweight today, showing early signs of
illness like diabetes, heart disease, elevated blood pressure
and cholesterol—all of which were once unheard of in those so
young. Researchers blame less active lifestyles and poor eating
habits on most of these cases.
In this issue of Seeds of Learning, we will look at some of the
ways that parents can help young children learn the importance
of good nutrition. One of the best ways to encourage healthy
development and to prevent children from becoming overweight is
to begin teaching positive attitudes about eating and physical
activity from the time they are born.
They are what they eat
Here are some suggestions on how
parents can help instill good nutritional habits at each age of
development:
Birth through the toddler years:
How babies are fed during the first year does have a significant
impact on their overall health and development and will
influence eating habits for life. The American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that babies should be exclusively
breastfed or given an iron-fortified formula from birth to about
six months. The nutrients contained in breast milk or formula
provides babies with all of the building blocks they need to
begin growing at a healthy rate.
When babies are introduced to solid food (generally at about six
months), the AAP recommends that cereal should be
iron-fortified. Single grains like rice or barley should come
first, rather than mixed grain cereals to reduce the risk of
allergic reactions.
As they move toward vegetables and
fruits, consider making some or all of your baby’s food. At Ask
Dr. Sears
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T032300.asp you can learn
more about how easy this is. When you make your own baby food
you will be able to offer a wider variety of tastes and you can
control the quality of the food your baby eats (many farmers
markets and local produce vendors offer a wide variety of
inexpensive produce and fruit that was grown without
pesticides.)
You will also be able to introduce your baby to different
texture—most jarred first foods are a single, smooth
consistency. As babies learn to gum, chew and swallow the small
lumps and bumps in their food and experience different textures
with their tongue and mouth, they are also exercising the
muscles of the head, neck, throat and mouth that they also use
to form sounds and words. Teachers of young children say that
often the children who have physical difficulties speaking have
not had enough opportunity to exercise their “speech muscles.”
Up until age two, the AAP recommends that children that drink
cows’ milk should have the full fat version of this and other
dairy products. Low-fat versions do not offer the fat and fatty
acids children need for healthy brain, vision and nerve
development. Other fat-rich foods that provide the same benefits
include egg yolks, meats, fish and vegetable oils. After age
two, lean and lower-fat versions of all of these foods is
recommended by pediatricians.
The toddler years (18 months to
age three):
With so much to do, see and explore, many toddlers have little
interest in slowing down long enough to eat. Yet healthy
“snacks” can pack a big nutritional punch (i.e. whole-grain
crackers and pretzels, toddler friendly fruits and veggies like
melon chunks and baby carrots, cereal Os, cheese cubes or
sticks.) Carry storage containers of nutritious snacks with you
so that eating in the car or supermarket check out line is as
wholesome as it can be. Coincidently, many of the bite-sized,
on-the-run foods that toddlers prefer require quite a bit of
work to chew and swallow—more practice for those important
“speech muscles.”
During this time, children are rapidly developing their own
tastes and preferences for food. Just because your once eager
eater may now be a little (or a lot) pickier doesn’t mean you
should stop offering healthy choices. Young children love things
that are familiar (a favorite red shirt, the same book each
night at bedtime). This also goes for the foods they’ll eat.
Rest assured, a steady diet of peanut butter provides a great
source of protein and can be eaten in a lot of ways—on whole
wheat bread, swirled into a bit of oatmeal, spread into celery
or used as a dip for apples. Serving a variety of wholesome
foods at family meals and eating them yourself lets your
children see that different foods are okay, even yummy. Offer
children small bites of the foods you eat along with their own
favorites, but don’t make a big deal about whether they eat them
or not. If new foods are within your children’s reach, they are
more likely to go to them when they are ready to expand their
diets.
Preschool years (ages three to
five):
As they grow, your children become more independent and better
able to take on responsibilities. A great way to encourage
healthy eating at this point is to ask them to help decide what
foods you will prepare for family meals. Here are a few fun
kid-friendly cookbooks to look to for inspiration: Pretend Soup
and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up by
Mollie Katzen, Cooking Art: Easy Edible Art for Young Children
by MaryAnn F. Kohl and The Mother Goose Cookbook: Rhymes and
Recipes for the Very Young by Marianna Mayer.
Children can practice their pre-writing skills by creating
shopping lists with pictures and their own words for the foods
they’ll look for at the supermarket as you shop for your feast.
On a daily basis, helping children learn to prepare their own
healthy snacks builds self-esteem (“Look what I made all by
myself!”), teaches them to make choices (“Do I want grape or
strawberry jam on my sandwich?”), lets you spend quality time
together and helps children learn to be a contributing part of
your family.
Healthy snacks for kids to make and eat
• Fruit salad. Most ripe fruit is
easily broken into pieces or cut into chunks with child-safe
plastic knives. Often kids’ fruit choices are limited to apples
and bananas, and maybe grapes or oranges. Try adding some new
fruits like peaches, tangerines, cherries, berries and melon to
the mix.
• Rice cakes spread with all-fruit jam and topped with fruit
slices (strawberries, kiwi and banana are good options.)
• Bagel faces. Slice a mini-bagel lengthwise and let your
children spread each half with cream cheese or hummus. Red and
green pepper slices are good for the mouth and hair. Sliced
black olives make great eyes and a baby carrot or cherry tomato
poked into the center hole is a funny nose.
• Ants on a log. Spread peanut butter into the center of a
length of celery and decorate it with dried cranberry or raisin
“ants.”
• Sandwiches of all types are more fun if they are cut into
shapes with cookie cutters.
Good nutrition and physical activity go hand-in-hand
As important as good nutrition is,
it needs to partner with physical activity in order to help
young children grow and be as fit as they can be. Even children
with wholesome diets can become overweight and out-of-shape if
they don’t burn the fuel they take in. Kids who enjoy movement
and play tend to stay active throughout their lives. Staying fit
can help improve children’s self-esteem—even very young children
can become self-conscious or be teased if overweight. Activity
will also decrease the risk of serious illnesses like heart
disease and stroke later in life.
Fall is a wonderful time to get outside and enjoy the beauty of
nature. When you exercise regularly on your own or with your
children, you are a positive role model for fitness. Here are
some ideas for fun activities designed to keep families moving:
• Leaf raking doesn’t have to be a chore. Encourage your
children to help you rake the leaves into piles with their own
tools. Getting to jump into a monstrous pile is great
motivation! Bagging and helping haul the leaves to the curb also
provides a heart healthy work-out.
• Take a nature walk to look for all of the sign of the changing
season (i.e. frost, colorful leaves, migrating birds). Why Do
Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro is a fun book to read
together that explains why leaves change color.
• Go pumpkin picking. A hike through the field looking for just
the right pumpkin and carrying , or rolling it depending on how
large it is, to the car are fun and active ways to spend a fall
afternoon.
• Plant a bed of spring blooming bulbs. The daffodils and
hyacinths of spring grow from bulbs that need to be planted in
the in the fall. All of the digging, weeding and bending
associated with gardening are great exercise. For more
information, check with the local garden center or nursery.
• Stargaze. When we set the clocks back and nighttime comes
earlier, there is more opportunity to see the stars in the clear
nighttime sky. A walk together after dinner in the cool air can
be educational and helps settle everyone for a good night’s
sleep.
Eat your words—Books on food to share
There are many wonderful books on
food and healthy eating for you and your young children to read
together. Some include recipes for you to try. All are readily
available at local libraries and at bookstores—locally and
on-line. Here is a sampling:
Board books for babies:
My Foods (Mi Comida) by Rebecca Emberley
Lunch by Denise Fleming
Baby Food by Saxton Freymann
Let’s Nosh! by Amy Wilson Sanger
Toddlers:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by
Laura Joffee Numeroff
The Big Hungry Bear by Don and
Audrey Woods
Preschoolers on up:
The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food by Stan and Jan
Berenstain
Today is Monday by Eric Carle
I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child
Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert
Alphabet Soup: A Feast of Letters by Scott Gustafson
Sunbread by Elisa Klevin
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman
Dumpling Soup by Jama Kim Rattigan
Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell
Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto
The Little Red Hen (Makes a Pizza) by Philemon Sturges
Never Take a Pig Out to Lunch and Other Poems by Nadine Bernard
Westcott