Archive for Children
The basics of healthy children: foster a healthy self-image in your children
Posted by: | CommentsThough this tip seems obvious, many children I see daily suffer from low self-esteem. Sometimes the source of their low self-esteem is the ridicule they endure at school or the images they compare themselves to on the covers of magazines. Sometimes they never had much self-esteem instilled in them from the start, and sometimes the source of their low self-esteem is clear when I see their parents spending our entire encounter criticizing their appearance or behavior.
No matter where the attacks are coming from, it is imperative to build and rebuild your child’s confidence. A healthy self-image is like a high-walled defensive barrier that gives your child enough confidence to explore the world. If her walls are high enough, nobody will be able to fling rocks over them. At the end of a long day, take time to replace some of the damaged stones by emphasizing the positive things about your kids.
Starting the lessons when your children are young is crucial, since kids are developing eating disorders at younger and younger ages. There are many things you can do to encourage a healthy self-image. Teach your child that people come in all shapes and sizes. Involve him in sports. Teach him to incorporate exercise into his daily routine. Start by setting a good example. Let him know that you work out to stay healthy, to be strong, and to have more energy and stamina. Praise him, praise him again, and always keep criticism constructive.
Children with self-confidence have a strong sense of themselves and the values their parents have instilled in them. They are not as likely to be moved by peer pressure or flattery and are therefore less likely to experiment with drugs or alcohol or use sex to boost their self-worth. Your most important job as a parent is to be your kids’ biggest cheerleader, not their toughest critic!
The basics of healthy children: talk to your children about alcohol and drugs
Posted by: | CommentsIn this complex world there are many issues that are difficult for children to understand and for adults to explain. The issue of alcohol and other drugs can be very confusing to children. If drugs are so dangerous, then why is the medicine cabinet full of them? And why are my friends drinking and smoking without any apparent harm?
Although teachers, doctors, and clergy bear some of the responsibility to educate our children, we would be remiss to not accept and embrace our duty to educate our children ourselves. Remember, it’s never too soon to talk to your children about drugs and alcohol. A recent study demonstrated that many children first sample alcohol at age eleven and marijuana at age twelve. The main two reasons cited by children for trying these substances were peer pressure and curiosity. Peer pressure is something you can help them resist by raising them to be strong, independent thinkers; curiosity about drugs and alcohol is something you can control by giving your kids the facts about the health problems associated with their use.
That said, make sure the information you offer fits your child’s age and developmental stage. When your five- or six-year-old is brushing her teeth, try saying something like, “We brush our teeth twice a day to keep them healthy, but some people do things that aren’t healthy for their bodies, like smoking, drinking too much alcohol, or using drugs.”
An older child might be ready to hear about more specific side effects.
More often than not, children will do as you do, not as you say. Knowing this, think twice about pounding a six-pack when your favorite team is playing on TV. Your behavior needs to be consistent with what you expect of your kids.
The basics of healthy children: some children prefer softened vegetables
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve listened to many parents complain that their kids stubbornly refuse to eat vegetables at all. Some of the fault, however, lies with the parents and their previous dietary choices. After all, why would a child accustomed to bottle after bottle of sweet juice want to eat cauliflower when it’s introduced? A two-year-old doesn’t understand the nutritional benefits of a well-balanced diet, he only knows that purple tastes good! Other parents allow their kids to fill up on non-nutritious snacks before meals, leaving no room for foods at mealtime. The good news is that many of these “picky eaters” can be reformed with a little planning and preparation.
We all have certain foods that we like or dislike because of the texture or color rather than the flavor or smell. This is particularly true of toddlers and small children. Making the transition from pureed foods to chewable solids can be a rough period for parents. Previously “good” eaters can become picky. Part of the problem is that the new foods are different in consistency and texture from the foods to which they were accustomed. When making this switch, serve soft fruits such as bananas, peaches, and pears. Steam vegetables until they are soft, even mushy. If this doesn’t work, puree vegetables into a soup. You might lose some of the minerals from oversteaming vegetables such as broccoli, but your child will still get the fiber from them and will begin to eat the previously rejected food. As she gets older she will learn to appreciate crisper produce, but for the time being try to be content that she is eating a healthy, varied diet.
The basics of healthy children: acknowledge that your children have their own tastes
Posted by: | CommentsThere are four Ps to learn and utilize in raising children, and they are especially useful in regard to pediatric nutrition: personality, patience, positivity, and persistence.
Let’s start with personality. Keep in mind that though she may be your child, your daughter will be her own woman one day; her personality, self-confidence, and tastes are evolving with each new daily experience. Rather than battling at the table over what foods she will eat, encourage her through creative but nonconfrontational techniques to explore her tastes. Here are three techniques that will encourage that kind of exploration while still acknowledging your child’s individual tastes:
- Use the one-bite rule to ensure that she is exposed to a variety of flavors and textures. Don’t expend too much energy preparing elaborate meals for her when she is young. That way you won’t be discouraged if she only nibbles at the food on her plate or plays with her food instead of eating it.
- Incorporate the color game into meals and snacks, so that she will have fun tasting small portions, even just nibbles, of as many naturally colored foods (no M&Ms!) as possible. Praise her for trying new foods and accept that she might not like the taste of them.
- As always, set the tone with your own good example.
If you or your spouse is a picky eater and refuses to eat vegetables, it’s time to grow up and show your children how to be a healthy eater.
Heaviness in children and adolescents is generally caused by lack of physical activity, unhealthy eating patterns, or a combination of the two.
Doctors and other health care professionals are the best people to determine whether your child’s or adolescent’s weight is healthy, and they can help rule out rare medical problems as the cause of unhealthy weight. Many overweight children who are still growing will not need to lose weight; if they can reduce their rate of weight gain, they can grow into their weight.
The important thing to remember is that dieting is not for kids. Don’t place your child on a restrictive diet without the supervision of your pediatrician. Your child’s diet should be safe and nutritious. It should include all of the recommended daily allowance for vitamins, minerals, and protein and foods from all the major food groups. Any weight-loss diet should be low in calories only, not in essential nutrients. Even with extremely overweight children, weight loss should be gradual.
Let your child know that he is loved and appreciated whatever his weight. An overweight child probably knows better than anyone else that he has a weight problem. Overweight children need support, acceptance, and encouragement from their parents, not ridicule or punishment. Finally, be a good role model for your child. If he sees you enjoying healthy foods and engaging in activities, he is more likely to do the same now and for the rest of his life.
The basics of healthy children: variety is the spice of life
Posted by: | CommentsMany weight-conscious people eat the same foods every day, day after day, week after week. Their typical menu is based on bagels, pasta, chicken, yogurt, and air-popped popcorn. Does eating low-calorie, low-fat foods all the time ensure that you are eating healthy? Probably not.
Eating a variety of foods helps your children consume a wider variety of nutrients. For example, if the only fruit you serve them is apples, they won’t get the folate that’s found in oranges. If they get all of their protein from turkey, they’ll miss out on the iron and zinc that’s more abundant in beef-Making sure that your child eats a varied diet can also reduce the chances that she will ingest the excessive amounts of harmful residues that might be more abundant on particular foods, such as strawberries and grapes. Don’t take too much solace in the fact that your kid eats energy bars all the time: she might be getting too much of some nutrients and not enough of others.
Studies suggest that people who eat from a wide variety of food groups tend to be healthier and to have a reduced risk of disease, including heart disease and diabetes. At each meal you should plan for your kids to eat from at least three of the five foods groups and challenge them to the Five-Plus Rule of eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day. In addition to expanding their repertoire of foods, adding variety to a child’s diet reduces the need for supplements.
Even healthful foods can be unhealthy if they are not handled and prepared correctly. Most of us know that eggs and chicken can transmit salmonella and that beef can transmit E. coli, but people often forget that it is possible to contract the same bacterial infections from fresh produce. These bacteria get on our fruits and vegetables in a couple of ways. Sometimes the manure used as fertilizer is contaminated with bacteria that can adhere to the surfaces of the produce. Sometimes the bacteria find their way onto our foods from the hands of food handlers and grocers. In addition to ridding your food of bacteria, you should wash your fresh fruit and vegetables to get rid of pesticides that may still be clinging to them.
Here are some other tips for handling and preparing food properly:
- Bacteria on a steak will be killed if the surface is browned, but ground beef must be fully cooked throughout to be sterilized.
- Do not use the same utensils and plates for cooked food that you used to prepare and store it.
- Kitchen sponges should be disposed of after a few weeks, and kitchen rags washed regularly.
Use plastic and glass cutting boards rather than wooden cutting boards to decrease the transmission of bacteria to your foods.
Finally, wash your hands before, during, and after food preparation. This is not only protective but also instills hygienic habits in both you and your children.
The basics of healthy children: separate screen time from eating time
Posted by: | CommentsYou’ve probably heard it time and time again, but now it’s time to listen: don’t let your kids eat while they are watching TV. I’ve already talked about why mealtime should be family time, but just as important, snack times shouldn’t be couch potato time. Of course, regardless of where they are consumed, snacks should be nutritious. Snacks that come in wrappers or bags are usually not healthful but instead provide empty, non-nutritious calories that are converted to fat by our bodies.
The more fat, or non-lean body mass, your child has, the lower her metabolic rate becomes. This causes her to burn fewer calories at rest and leads to the efficient deposition of her extra unused calories as additional fat. It is not difficult to see that this generates a vicious cycle of weight gained as fat. Furthermore, the calories obtained while lounging around are not likely to be utilized, since the body burns very few calories while sitting. Consider this: your child can burn four calories per minute while running, and eight calories per minute while swimming, but will burn only about one calorie per minute while watching television. Even reading and thinking hard, however mentally exhausting they may be, bum only one to one and a half calories per minute. At that rate, it’s easy to see why couch potatoes have spare tires and love handles.
Do your kids a favor: separate TV time from eating time and encourage them to be active.
The basics of healthy children: limit eating to the table and high chair
Posted by: | CommentsOne of the most frequent statements I hear from mothers is, “My child doesn’t eat anything!” Yet a review of the child’s weight often reveals that the child is at an appropriate eight, or even overweight, despite “never” eating. Furthermore, and too often, the child’s face is smeared with crumbs from various chips, crackers, and cookies, and his tongue may range in color from green to purple after recently downing a juice-box. With a little further questioning, we get to the bottom of the real problem: the child doesn’t eat anything when the family sits at the table for a meal.
Eating small, frequent meals throughout the day is good advice for your kids if the foods they eat are nutritionally adequate. But a constant infusion of cream-filled chocolate cookies and juice is not the foundation of a healthy diet! Your children will become “full” from eating unhealthy but tasty snacks and have no interest in lunch or dinner if you’ve stocked the cabinets with this kind of food and given them unlimited access to it. You can’t expect your children o have the discipline to refrain from eating such foods if they are readily available.
Snacks that you provide are okay during the day, but sit your children down at the table to eat their snacks so that they develop the habit of doing their eating at the table, his can prevent your kids from getting into the habit of sitting in front of the TV with a bag of potato chips.
The basics of healthy children: be patient with your children
Posted by: | CommentsPatience, the second of the four Ps, is a virtue in all walks of life, but nowhere is it more important than with the ones you love. While at times it’s hard not to lose your cool when dealing with a small person who has the emotional development of a three-year-old, try to remember that the small person in your care is only three!
Getting kids to eat their food, let alone eat healthy food, is one of the challenges in parenting that requires your patience. Rather than flying off the handle because you have prepared an elaborate meal that your child does not appreciate, remind yourself that your child is rejecting the meal, not you. That is, don’t take the rejection of your food personally. Attaining this understanding will make your life less stressful and your relationship with your children more rewarding for the years to come.
The best way to remain patient with your child is to share the responsibility with others. A strong network of social support is critical for successful child rearing. If you have family or friends in the area, let them help you out now and then and take a night off from cooking for the kids.
Never shake, slap, smack, or throw your children when you lose your patience! Instead, when you find yourself losing your patience, defuse your anger or frustration by going into another room, turning down the lights, and taking a few quiet minutes to collect yourself. Call a friend immediately if you need help. If you can’t do that, or if you don’t have a social support network and you find that you cannot calm yourself, every emergency room has a social worker who can help you find resources.