MOMS & DADS TALK: When Children Don't Choose Healthy Food

As parents, we do our best to ensure that our children are healthy. We wash their hands, squirt antibacterial gel, sanitize shopping carts and make sure they're hydrated. But while we strive to offer them a healthy diet, they often turn their noses at more nutritional foods, in preference of the less healthy options.

Have you ever felt that your efforts at encouraging healthy eating have fallen short? Don't be too hard on yourself. Registered Dietitian Rebecca Thomas, who specializes in pediatric nutrition, said that parents often feel frustrated when children only eat one decent meal per day, only take a few bites of each meal or only eat the bready or cheesy options on their plates and skip over fruits, veggies and whole grains. 

She advises that as long as our children are gaining weight and growing proportionately, that as long as they are eating something, we should not worry too much about their nutritional health just yet. She mentioned that we often have to introduce a food to our kids up to 20 times before they will try it.

She offered these helpful tips to get our kids to eat more healthfully: Let them cook with us or help prepare foods. Let them touch and smell the foods as we're preparing them. Getting them involved might open them up to trying new things if they know they helped to create that particular food. 

Have you worried about your children's nutrition? What are some ways you have worked healthier foods into their diets?