Stone Circles School

Part 1: Start in the Veggie Isle

Teaching your child how to eat right for their particular body is one of the most important things you will ever teach them. Why is this so, you might ask!

If you are honest with yourself you will realize that when you don’t eat right, you don’t feel well, and if you don’t feel well, you are not motivated to accomplish your goals. So, we will assume you want your child to accomplish their goals (even if their goal right now is just to play hard), and given this assumption, what is the best way to teach them about nutrition?

First and foremost, modeling appropriate eating behavior is paramount to teaching your child about the importance of nutrition. This means concentrating on plenty of good veggies.

Making veggies the stars of the show will let your child know they are special. Why are veggies so special? Because they are so colorful. Being so colorful is nature’s way of telling us they’re packed with important nutrients.

How can you get your child excited about veggies? Here are a few ideas:

• Take your child shopping with you and start in the fruit and veggie isle.

• Let your child pick out the veggie of the day for dinner.

• If your child is very young, and just learning colors, let him or her choose the “color” of veggie to eat for dinner. This will also help to reinforce knowledge of color names.

• Let your child help you decide how to prepare the veggie: i.e., steamed, sautéed, roasted, or raw? Perhaps a soup? Your child will realize there isn’t just one way to cook a veggie. Perhaps she will decide she loves her carrots best roasted, or steamed with butter.

• Let your child pick a new veggie of the week… something he hasn’t tried before. Maybe beets or Brussels -Sprouts or Parsnips–try them roasted or steamed.

• Do an experiment with your child to let her notice how she feels after eating different vegetables. Does she feel stronger or weaker? Does he have more or less energy? This will help him or her begin equating what is eaten to how he or she feels afterward. Perhaps the child could make a picture of the veggies and you could create a veggie graph.

• Introduce your child to the term vitamin and begin to learn together which foods contain which vitamins.

• Lest I forget, it’s also important not to have too many competing foods, such as potato chips, sugary drinks, and other sweets, available for your child’s consumption.

In the end, it is your modeling correct eating habits, and making veggies the “stars of the show,” that will affect your child the most.