Foods do's and don'ts for primary school-aged kids
As children age and go on to school, feeding becomes different. Even if you didnít have much of a schedule prior to your child entering the school system, now you do. Therefore, it's important to maintain a schedule for the sake of their nutritional and health needs.
Do: Visit Your Child's Cafeteria
Some schools have excellent lunches (and breakfasts) but others have really horrible offerings. It honestly depends on what side of the equation you fall on whether you and your child will enjoy the lunches or not. The best thing is to go try it out. If you like it, then you'll know it's okay for your child to eat there. If you don't like it, then you know youíll need to provide lunch.
Do: Let Your Child Take Their Lunch
If your child suggests that they'd rather take their lunch, then let them. You can teach your child to prepare their lunch the night before school with your help. If they're asking, that means they really do not like the school lunch and are probably essentially hungry all day long. Being hungry isn't conducive to learning.
Do: Offer a Snack after School
Most kids, especially when they first start school, are starving when they get home. They have to go long periods of time with neither food nor water, which is not natural for them. Offer a good hydrating snack after school like cuties, watermelon, grapes, or cantaloupe - not something fake like microwave pizza bites.
Do: Get Dinner on at a Reasonable Hour
It's important when your child starts school to set up a reasonably scheduled meal time. You'll want to ensure that each evening they have a set time to get dinner so that they can study, sleep well without having too full of a tummy, and learn better.
Do: Feed Them a Good Breakfast
It's new for primary school children to have to eat breakfast then go several hours without food until lunch time. Not to mention lunch times are super-short these days - sometimes no more than 20 minutes including waiting in line. Therefore, feeding a well-balanced breakfast that will keep them full is important.
Don't: Micromanage Their Choices
When you set dinner out for your child, let them self-serve. Then they can choose what to eat, and how much. Don't give them the choice to eat snacks later if they don't eat their dinner, but don't micromanage how much they eat at each meal or even what they eat out of the things you offer them.
Don't: Make Them Clean Their Plate
The worst thing you can do is force your child to clean their plate. Sure, there are starving kids all around the world and maybe even in your own city. But forcing your child to clean their plate won't help any starving kids anyplace. Instead, it might make your child ignore their real hunger cues, putting them on a path of obesity.
Don't: Restrict Food for Overweight Kids
If you notice your child is overweight, don't restrict their food. In fact, you don't even have to tell your child they're overweight. Instead, research "nutritionally dense low-calorie food" and you'll find a plethora of options to add to your dinners to help anyone in the family stay healthy, full, and become their normal weight.
Don't: Pressure and Bribe Kids with Food
It's very tempting to bribe little Johnny with a Twinkie if he gets good grades, goes to bed on time, takes a bath, brushes his teeth and so forth. But, it's a horrible idea and while it may get immediate results, it will set up your child to become an overeater - especially of reward foods and junk foods.
Don't: Forget to Show Love
It might seem weird to you, but food means love to many people. Therefore, instead of only showing your family you love them when it surrounds food, find other things to do it and other ways of demonstrating love to your child.
Primary school-aged children are venturing out of their parent's grasp. You can't control everything they do. Therefore, if you teach them good choices at home, you can be assured they'll make them when they're elsewhere.
Next time, we'll cover some important do's and don'ts regarding food for tweens and teens.