Eating healthy is something I talk about all the time. It has become such a big part of my own life and in turn a big part of my family’s life. The other day I was thinking about what my kids thought of the subject. I decided to sit down and talk to them about healthy eating to see what their thoughts were and to see if all I’ve been talking about actually sunk in at all!
Here are the questions I asked my two boys who are 6 and 7 and their answers!
Me: What does eating healthy eating mean?
Them: Eating things like chicken, lettuce, salad, apples, carrots, tomatoes and peppers. It means working out and running and eating healthy stuff.
Me: Why should you eat healthy?
Them: So you don’t get too big. If you eat too much junk food you won’t be able to walk easy.
Me: What is junk food?
Them: Food that is not healthy for you, like bagels. Once in a while it’s ok to eat them. (BTW they were eating bagels as we had this conversation)
Me: So why should you eat healthy?
Them: You need to grow big and strong!
Me: Do you like eating healthy foods?
Them: Yes, but it is hard to eat sometimes. I like to grow big and strong.
Me: What don’t you like about eating healthy?
Them: I can’t say anything about that. I do like eating healthy
Me: Do you need to eat super healthy every meal?
Them: You don’t need to all the time. You can have junk every once in a while and that is ok
I have to say I was genuinely surprised at how much they knew about eating healthy and how well they were able to talk about it with me! Teaching them to have balance in their diet was so important to me but I never stressed it in a huge way. As much as I wanted them to grow up with that understanding I didn’t want them to become overly obsessive about food and I definitely didn’t want them to have extreme thoughts about their diet.
Listening to them tell me about balance and junk food really made me proud.
Want to talk to your kids about healthy eating? Here are a few of my favorite tips.
Food Is Power
The biggest tip I have for you is to help your kids focus on the fact that food is power. We eat to get nutrients and energy to help us live. We have these conversations at dinner. I might tell them that we are having chicken for protein to help us build our muscles or that the sweet potatoes will give you energy so you can play hard later! Just have it come up naturally in a conversation at meals.
Lead By Example
If you want your kids to know about living a balanced and healthy life then you need to be doing it yourself. You can’t expect your kids to make good choices if you aren’t willing to. A lot of what my kids know is because they learned by watching me make good choices.
They see me making good choices most of the time but also having a donut once in a while and enjoying it! I don’t want my kids to see me stress over calories or a diet, I want them to see me making choices that will help improve my body.
Trying to get your kids to try new things? I have this great sensory chart I use with mine! Whenever we try a new food, as a family, we use our senses to describe it. We write it on the chart and then talk about what we liked or didn’t like about it! Click the button below to grab the freebie!
