Family corner  of Early childhood section of

AL-MADINAH SCHOOL

Helping Your Child - Tips for parents
Healthy eating for children

Tips for Parents of Preschoolers

Tips for Parents of Kindergartners

Helping Your Child - Tips for parents
Healthy eating for children

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Eating well and being physically active are key to your child's well-being. Eating too much and exercising too little can lead to overweight and related health problems that can follow children into their adult years. You can take an active role in helping your child-and your whole family-learn healthy eating and physical activity habits.

How will healthy eating and physical activity help my child?

All children benefit from healthy eating and physical activity. A balanced diet and being physically active help children:

• grow

• learn

• build strong bones and muscles

• have energy

• maintain a healthy weight

• avoid obesity-related diseases like type 2 diabetes

• get plenty of nutrients

• feel good about themselves

How are my child's eating and activity habits formed?

Parents play a big role in shaping children's eating habits. When parents eat a variety of foods that are low in fat and sugar and high in fiber, children learn to like these foods as well. It may take 10 or more tries before a child accepts a new food, so do not give up if your child does not like a new food right away.

Parents have an effect on children's physical activity habits as well. You can set a good example by going for a walk or bike ride after dinner instead of watching TV. Playing ball or jumping rope with your children shows them that being active is fun.

With many parents working outside the home, child care providers also help shape children's eating and activity habits. Make sure your child care provider offers well-balanced meals and snacks, as well as plenty of active play time.

If your child is in school, find out more about the school's breakfast and lunch programs and ask to have input into menu choices, or help your child pack a lunch that includes a variety of foods. Get involved in the parent-teacher association (PTA) to support physical education (PE) and after-school sports.

Your child's friends and the media can also affect his or her eating and activity choices. Children may go to fast food places or play video games with their friends instead of playing tag, basketball, or other active games. TV commercials try to persuade kids to choose high-fat snacks and high-sugar drinks and cereals. When parents help their children be aware of peer and media pressures, youngsters are more likely to make healthy choices outside the home.

What should my child eat?

Just like adults, children need to eat a wide variety of foods for good health. Use the Food Guide Pyramid  as a starting point for planning family meals and snacks. The Food Guide Pyramid applies to healthy people age 2 years and older. The smaller number of servings in the range is for children age 6 years and under. For 2- to 3-year-old children, the serving size should be smaller, about two-thirds the size of a regular serving (except for milk).

When you help children build healthy eating habits early, they will approach eating with a positive attitude—that food is something to enjoy, help them grow, and give them energy.

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The Food Pyramid can be a good guide for a healthier nutrition. It was developed by the US Department of Agriculture and gives simple and easy orientation to help you choose your menu.

What is the Food Pyramid?

Flexible and full of options, the Pyramid gives simple and easy orientation that will help you choose what and how much to eat from each food group. It takes in consideration seven guidelines:

The Seven Guidelines:

Eat a variety of foods to get the energy, protein, vitamins, minerals, and fiber you need for good health.

Balance the food you eat with physical activity - maintain or improve your weight to reduce you chances of having high blood pressure, heart disease, a stroke, certain cancers, and the most common kind of diabetes.

Choose a diet with plenty of grain products, vegetables, and fruits which provide needed vitamins, minerals, fiber, and complex carbohydrates, and can help you lower your intake of fat.

Choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol to reduce your risk of heart attack and certain types of cancer and to help you maintain a healthy weight.

Choose a diet moderate in sugars. A diet with lots of sugars has too many calories and too few nutrients for most people and can contribute to tooth decay.

Choose a diet moderate in salt and sodium to help reduce your risk of high blood pressure.

If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation. Alcoholic beverages supply calories, but little or no nutrients. drinking alcohol is also the cause of many health problems and accidents and can lead to addiction.

What is in the Pyramid?

The Pyramid contains all foods you can imagine! The guide encourages a healthy diet with: variety, balance and moderation  

Variety. There isn't one single food that provides all nutrients we need. A healthy diet includes foods from all five major food groups in the Food Guide Pyramid.

Balance. A balanced diet incorporates the appropriate daily servings of the five groups in the Pyramid. Your gender, age and athletic level may change the food servings for a balanced diet.

Moderation. Be careful with your menu choices in order to control the levels of: calories, fats, cholesterol, saturated fat, salt, sugars and, if consumed, alcohol drinks. 

How do we use the Food Guide Pyramid?

As you can see by the graphic bellow, the Pyramid arranges the foods in five major food groups. At the base of the Pyramid you will find the foods you should consume frequently (breads, cereals, rice and pasta), while, at the top of it, you will find the foods you should consume with moderation (fats, oils and sugars).

Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or USDA and DHHS

The recommended servings (approximated) of the each food groups depend on your calorie needs. The calorie level suggestions are based on recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences and on calorie intakes reported by people in national food consumption surveys.

For adults and teens:
1,600 calories is about right for many sedentary women and some older adults.
2,200 calories is about right for most children, teenage girls, active women, and many sedentary men. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding may need somewhat more.
2,800 calories is about right for teenage boys, many active men, and some very active women.

A healthy diet doesn't mean you must get ride of your favorite foods and drinks. Just learn how to balance your diet. You can enjoy your favorite foods and, at the same time, promote your health. There isn't a "good" or a "bad" food. Every kind of food can fit in a health diet with balance, variety and moderation. The Food Pyramid Guide is not a rigid prescription, but a general guide that lets you choose a healthful diet.

Tips for Parents of Preschoolers

Read early and read often. The early years are critical to developing a lifelong love of reading. It's never too early to begin reading to your child! The tips below offer some fun ways you can help your child become a happy and confident reader. Try a new tip each week. See what works best for your child.

These tips for parents of preschoolers are also available as a one-page handout. Click below to:

Tips for Parents of Kindergartners

Play with letters, words, and sounds! Having fun with language helps your child learn to crack the code of reading. The tips below offer some fun ways you can help your child become a happy and confident reader. Try a new tip each week. See what works best for your child.