Children's Snacks - Plan them. Don't Ban them!
Snacks are a must.
Three nutritious meals may not be enough for young children. Their stomachs are too small to get the necessary daily nutrients from meals only. There is no rule about having just three meals a day. Smaller portions, more times a day, may satisfy your child's hunger. When feeding young children, a good rule of thumb for toddler size servings is about one (1) tablespoon of food for each year of age. You can feed them more if they are still hungry.
Remember that food safety is most important. Make sure foods for young children are not choking hazards. Do not feed raw vegetables, popcorn, nuts, peanuts, raisins or other dried fruit to children under three (3) years of age. If you feed hotdogs to young children, cut them into quarters lengthwise. Then cut them into smaller pieces. Slice grapes in half.
Children often prefer fruit juice to any other drink or fruit. Excessive amounts of juice are high in calories that may contribute to weight gain and tooth decay. Some juices have even more calories than pop and they all lack the fiber of fresh fruit. The American Association of Pediatrics recommends no more than two 6-ounce glasses of juice a day.
Snack choices need to be nutritious. Good choices are fruits, vegetables, whole grain breads and crackers, low-fat cheese and yogurt. Young children need fat in their diet as part of their nutritional requirement. However, after age two, reduce the fat level to low fat and eventually, to non-fat dairy products.
Be aware that other foods labeled as "low fat" or "fat free" may not tell the whole story. Read labels carefully for high calorie content from sugar. Most packaged snack foods are naturally "cholesterol free" but may still be very high in fat, saturated fat and sugar.
Healthy snacks are sometimes difficult to get children to eat. One of the best ways is to be a role model for them. Join your children in eating health snacks. Other tips for getting young children to eat healthy snacks are:
- Similar choices. Offer comparable choices - Do you want apple or orange slices, graham crackers or soda crackers, celery or carrots?
- Variety of snacks. If you offer the same thing repeatedly, kids may get bored. They may ask for unhealthy, fad snacks they see in TV ads.
- Be creative. Dress up snacks for maximum appeal. Use dips such as fruit yogurt and low-fat dressing. Cut vegetables in a variety of ways to make them more appealing. Make faces with food. Make cookie cutter sandwiches, cheese slices or whole grain tortilla pieces.
- Fun names. Give foods interesting names to make them more exciting. Broccoli pieces, "little trees". Kale, a "fan". An orange, the "sun".
- Fun to eat. If your child is old enough to use toothpicks safely, take advantage of them. Use steamed veggies with low fat dip. Let your child spear to his/her heart's content. Pieces of meat and cheese are other options.
- Freezer. When the weather is hot, use the freezer. Mix mashed bananas and peanut butter. Spread the mixture between graham crackers and freeze. Grapes, half-grapes and peeled bananas freeze well. Fill an ice cube tray with juice, pudding or a smoothie.
Healthy habits may take some time. For children who are used to sweet, fat-filled, high calorie snacks, it will take awhile to change eating habits. Look for positive changes over weeks and months. Complement them on their good choices. Teaching children to make healthy snack choices today will provide benefits to them for the rest of their lives.
For more information on Feeding Young Children, access Colorado State University, Nutrition Resources Online. Fact Sheet: 9.366 at www.ext.colostate.edu.
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Active Kids - Obstacle course
Keep kids active. An obstacle course can be set up either in or out of doors. Chairs, old tires, stools or cardboard boxes are just a few things that can be used. Make and show the children the pattern of the course so that they know what they have to crawl over, under or through.
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Healthy Kids - Bicycles
In the market for a new bike? When selecting bikes for kids, make sure to consider a child's age, maturity level, and the riding environment. Before making any purchase, be sure that the child is in the age range recommended for the cycling gear.
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Safe Kids - Secondhand smoke
"My kids are coming down with a lot of ear infections or colds, what's going on? I mean, we use that hand gel and I'm always after them to wash their hands; I don't understand why they are sick so often."
Secondhand smoke could be the reason. Children who live or spend time in a house where people smoke have more ear infections, allergies, bad colds, bronchitis or pneumonia and asthma than kids living in houses where smoking is not allowed inside.
Secondhand smoke is the smoke that escapes from a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke that a smoker breathes out.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the US EPA say that kids are at greater risk for two reasons: Because their bodies are developing, young children are vulnerable to the poisons. Secondly, smoke is heavy and hangs about two feet from the floor, just where kids can breathe it.
Here are four things to remember about Secondhand smoke:
- Smoke knows no boundaries. No matter where you smoke in your home, everyone in the house ends up breathing the smoke. Even if you go to the basement, the attic, the bathroom or the farthest room from where your kids are playing, the air and smoke moves to every room.
- Smoking in a car or other type of auto is even worse than smoking in the house. Even with a car's windows open three inches or more, the levels of smoke in a car can be higher than that normally found in a smoky bar.
- Opening a window, using a "smoke-eater" or turning on a fan will not clear the air of smoke. The most expensive air cleaning sys
tems are unable to clear the air of all the poisons from secondhand smoke.
- Air fresheners do not help either. Just because you cannot smell secondhand smoke, does not mean the smoke is gone.
Protecting children from secondhand smoke takes only One Step: Stop Smoking.
Adapted from: B. Tafoya-Dominguez. Denver Public Health. Health Promotion Program. www.RaiseSmokeFreeKids.com (January 2008). Colorado Statewide Tobacco Education Prevention Partnership's ONE Step Fact Sheet 2007.
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