Think About It
An Op-Ed by Harlan Coben in the New York Times this week railed agaist what he calls "Snack Tyranny" and points out that any exercise benefit a child gains by soccer is wiped out by Ding Dongs.
Excellent point.
Parents are in the driver's seat when it comes to encouraging good eating habits. There are so many small things that we can do to steer children
down the right nutritional path. The first thing is to cut out the
junky snacks.
The second thing is to keep an eye on how they spend their time. A study in Europe found that contemporary children's poor sleeping habits, caused by night time use of cell phones and text messaging, throw off their hormonal balance and can lead ultimately to obesity. And more than two hours of TV or computer use a day has been linked to weight issues.
Third, always look for excercise opportunites. Another report suggests that parents who drive their children to school rather than encouraging them to walk, remove the chance for much-needed excercise.
And finally, eat your meals together at home. Study after study claims that shared family meals lead to better nutrition. And healthy meals are not neccessarily difficult or time consuming to prepare. I
n October our volunteer Chefs taught 4th graders how to prepare Chicken Caterpillar Kabobs, Nori Rolls, Fresh Tomato Sauce for Pizza, Chicken Tandoori, Spring Rolls, Whole Wheat Pancakes & Cobb Salad. All easy enough for a nine-year-old to make and fun to do together. Click the names above to download our recipes and try them with your own kids.
Cooking dinner together solves several problems at once--your children are not sitting in front of the TV, you get to spend some quality time, and even picky kids tend to eat food that they have had a hand in preparing. Of the 420 children we cooked with this month, only a couple refused to experiment with the new foods we introduced. Most asked for seconds!
powered by performancing firefox