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Kids Eating Healthy:

With fast food as big a part of modern life as it is, and all the on-the-go families, it is hard to teach a child how to eat healthy. The easiest, cheapest foods are those that are the least healthy. And, when parents do try to get their kids to eat healthfully, they would turn down a carrot for a French fry any day. Giving your child the option of heating healthy and eating junk food is not a good idea. They are kids, and they tend to go for the fun foods. After all, no matter how you dress it up, goldfish snacks are much more fun to eat that broccoli. This means that the bet way to get your kids to eat healthy is to not offer up the junk food in the first place. Of course, this isn't always possible, and even when you do, it is likely still difficult to get your child to eat healthy foods. While it isn't really possible to get a child to like all healthy foods, there are ways to get your child to begin to try (and possibly like) at least a few.

• Sneak it in—while it would be a great thing if you can get your child to understand and appreciate the importance of fruits and vegetables, and to like and want them because of it, this isn't always possible. So, if you can't get them to willingly eat good foods, there are ways to sneak them in without them realizing it, such as by making muffins with bananas or apple in them or by making pizza with spinach on it.

• Call them by fun names—all of my kids call broccoli "trees," and this makes them more fun to eat. There are many different names that you can attach to fruits and vegetables, you can even make up your own funny-sounding names for them. Kids tend to like to eat foods that are fun to say.

• Be like animals or characters—rabbits (as well as Bugs Bunny) eat carrots, and it's fun to be like a bunny. Although it may mean your little one will hop around the house while eating a carrot, or that they may flex their muscles every time they take a bite of spinach, they are eating them, and enjoying it, and that's all that matters.

• Make them taste better—another way to make them enjoy foods that they may not normally like is to perk them up a little, such as dipping sauces. Ranch dressing is a great dip for broccoli, and peanut butter is a good topper for celery. There are many different combinations of foods that can make kids like them better. A great way to do this is to let your child pick the dip that they want with a vegetable. Even if it is something that an adult wouldn't like, you should let them try it. Kids like some really weird combinations sometimes, but if that's what it takes for them to eat healthy foods, then so be it.

• Dress them up—just as having funny names helps kids eat healthy foods that they normally wouldn't like, making them look funny also helps. You can do this by making them into fun designs on the plate, or setting them up to look like little people. Some parents don’t like to let their kids play with their food, but if they are just playing with it right before it hits their mouth, what's the harm?

There are many different ways to make your kids eat healthily, but to make them enjoy it, it has to be fun, as well. This isn't necessarily an easy task, because healthy foods have to be able to rival such things as colored miniature marshmallows, and that can't be easy. But, it can be done with a little creativity. And, hopefully, it will help your child develop a love of healthy foods for the rest of their life.

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