Mealtime is a time for families to gather together, share and have fun!

In today’s fast-paced society, families often abandon eating together. Research shows that children that eat with their families are more likely to try new foods, make healthier choices and even do better in school! Mealtimes are an opportunity for parents to strengthen their family, model good eating habits and keep track of their children’s lives.

Here are some tips to create mealtime routines for your family:

• Try to plan one meal a day in which everyone can be together. If both parents are not available, have at least one parent eat with the children. If the weekdays are too hectic, make a special effort on the weekend.
• Try to focus on your children and not discuss adult issues. Start a tradition by having each child share the best thing that happened to them that day. Enjoy your amazing family.
• Turn off the TV! Television viewing during dinner stifles conversation. Research shows that families that watch television during dinner eat more fatty foods and less fruits and vegetables.
• Let the children join in cooking. Children as young as two-years old love to help! They can help prepare dinner (eg; sprinkle cheese, chop bananas for fruit salad etc), set the table or even do the dishes (if you don’t mind the mess).
• At mealtimes model good manners, healthy eating and a willingness to try new foods. Children will mimic your attitudes toward food.  If you don’t eat your vegetables, why should they? Be open to new ways of cooking too.
• Keep meals simple and be realistic about the amount of food that you give your child.

Parent Tips

Jane and Mikel - parents of four children
The children take turns bringing a lighted candle to the dinner table. We then sing a blessing. If the children are a bit fussy about coming to the table, I sprinkle some magic fairy dust and polish their seats. This tends to work because of their ages. At our house we have a compulsory salad at the start of our meal, and the children know that it is the most important part and that it must be eaten before getting anything else. We have always been consistent with this and rarely have an issue with non-eating. If they are teething or overtired, then they just do their best.

These great tips and more are from the highly acclaimed book The Triumphant Child - A practical guide to raising 2, 3 and year olds.

One out of three children in America are overweight or outright obese.

One out of three children in America are overweight or outright obese As a result, their health and emotional well being now, and their ability to enjoy a productive and long life in the future, are greatly impaired.

What can you do to prevent this epidemic from affecting your children?

Here are some points to consider:

• Take a good look in your refrigerator and your pantry. What do you see? If there is an abundance of foods that are high in fat, sugar and calories, then permanently change, what you buy and what your family eats.
• Insist on the family eating together. Studies have shown that this one act alone improves family communication and reduces the intake of high fat, high calorie foods.
• Take your children grocery shopping with you and teach them how to read the labels and select healthy. Make a game out of it and give rewards (NOT Candy!) for the right selections.
• Exercise together. Take walks together, go to the park often, find safe bikeways, define safe walking paths to school and use the backyard for tag, sack races and dodge ball.
• Encourage neighborhood participation. The more kids engage in activity together, the more they will want to play together.
• For goodness sake, limit TV to no more than one hour on school days.
• Never allow snacks during TV time.
• Be creative with snacks; provide carrot sticks, apples, bananas, grapes, cherries and a whole variety of fruits and fresh vegetables.

There is an old German proverb that says: “a man is what he eats.” So, it is for our children. Don’t feed them fat and they won’t be obese!

These great tips and more are from the highly acclaimed book The Triumphant Child - A practical guide to raising 2, 3 and year olds.