With summer just around the corner, many parents are attempting to put together a healthier diet for their children. We all know that three meals a day will not keep growing kids nutritionally satisfied all day. Kids always ask their parents for a snack. It is almost a part of their daily routine. It is during this time that a parent must decide whether he/she will hand their child a bag of potato chips or think of another enticing and healthy alternative.
Some fun and healthy snacks include, fruit smoothies, trail mix, whole grain muffin, low fat microwave popcorn, and string cheese. When dealing with a child’s snack, it is important to keep the snacking process fun. For instance, you can place on the table in little bowls some cheerios, dried fruit, chopped nuts, mini chocolate chips, and along with your child create his/her very own trail mix. This way the child concentrates more on the fun part of creating the snack and a little less on the nutrition.
The same idea goes for fruit. You can let your child be very creative by allowing him/her to pick and choose his/her favorite fruits. Once your child has chosen the fruit, you can create a smoothie, add the fruit into vanilla yogurt, or even melt some dark chocolate to dip the fruit. The possibilities are endless. When it comes down to kids and food always try to keep snack time fun and interesting. You should also remember to always incorporate something that you know the child enjoys eating into the new healthy snack. You can’t simply place a bowl of whole grain in front of your child and expect him/her to munch. Mix things up by throwing in a few mini chocolate chips or mini peanut butter chips. There are many healthy foods out there that are delicious; the trick however is in how you present these foods to kids.
