Teaching your child to eat healthy food is important so that your child is used to not being picky. Children who often eat the wrong types of food, such as junk food or roadside food, are more at risk of obesity and various diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
With the many junk food ads on TV and the habit of eating these foods, it will be difficult to get your child to eat healthily. However, there are strategies that you can implement to help you stop eating junk food. What are the strategies? Come on, look like six strategies and the explanation below.
The smart way for children to stop eating junk food
Prepare a healthy snack
The first way for children to stop eating junk food is to provide snacks such as fruit, vegetables, and oatmeal cookies with cheese. Prepare your healthy snacks in a place that is easily accessible to children, such as at the dining table.
When they are hungry, they can take it easily. Also prepare a bowl of fruit in a place that is easily seen, so your child can immediately enjoy it. This is because children tend to want to eat what is in front of them.
Don't bring junk food home
If you don't want your child to eat these foods, then don't keep or take junk food home. That way, your child will not see and ask. Another way is to cook a dish that is similar to the junk food menu, but a healthier version. This method can reduce consumption of junk food in children.
Don't bargain with children
Don't use junk food as a bargaining tool. Give a gift in the form of junk food so that your child wants to eat healthy food is very wrong, because it will actually add to their attraction to junk food itself. Children also need to be able to measure how much they eat, because forcing them to spend food can cause them to overeat later on, especially with the trend of large portions of food nowadays.
Don't ban children from eating junk food
If you do not want your child to eat junk food, you should not really forbid it, because it can lead to higher children's curiosity. This will also make them tend to eat a lot of junk food when there are opportunities, such as at school events, friend's birthdays, and more.
Teach your child to taste all kinds of food in small quantities, allow them to eat junk food at their friends' homes, but not when they are at home.
Give an example from yourself
Children learn by seeing what their parents are doing. If you don't want your child to eat a lot of junk food, you yourself must eat healthy food and avoid junk food. Also, allow your child to choose the type of food and healthy snacks they like.
Don't give junk food as a gift
Usually parents will reward children for eating at fast food restaurants when they increase class or win races. Well, this is one that must be avoided so that children stop eating junk food. Alternatively, you can provide drawing tools, favorite toys, sports equipment such as badminton rackets, or even other activities that can distract children from the desire to eat junk food.