Children from aged tend to twelve are in a lot of danger of developing unhealthy eating habits. To prevent them from doing things like gulping food you need to make sure that the focus is on eating the meal.
Preteens have all of the feeding challenges and issues that younger play age children do including –
• Mindlessly eating in front of the television
• Skipping meals to socialize or because of emotional upsets
• Eating badly in school cafeterias
• Getting addicted to sugar
This is also an age at which your child might start to show signs of an eating disorder. It more affects teenagers but be wary of such behaviors as –
• Stopping eating and drinking
• Talking constantly about being skinny
• Developing strange eating habits like pushing the food around the plate and never consuming it
• Vomiting after eating
• Losing a great deal of weight
If you suspect your preteen girl is too obsessed with her weight get her help immediately. These disorders can result in everything from tooth loss to organ damage to brain damage if not treated early.
To persuade your teen to eat well you should –
• Discourage eating butter or the 'Golden Topping' found at movie theaters
• Take them grocery shopping with you to learn how to buy nutritional wholesome foods and stick to a grocery list
• Instill the 'never shop when you are hungry' rule
• Teach them how to read ingredient labels so they stay away from toxic
• Substituting teas, home-made lemonades and water for soft drinks
• Buying whole grains
• Eating more fish
• Keeping meats that are bought lean
• Encourage them to cook healthy foods like home made pizza and tacos
• Add more fruit to cereals
• Drink more smoothies full of vegetable or fruit combinations
• Make healthy cakes out of zucchini, chia and carrots
Finally, getting kids of this age to eat vegetables is all about access! If they can reach for a little bundle of celery and carrot sticks with a dip as easily as they can a bag of potato chips then you have won half the battle. Be sure to ready and easy for your child to consume at any time.
Instead of having the media work against you, you can use sources of information online to educate your preadocescent. Good sites for tweens between age ten and thirteen to explore are –
www.empowerme2B.com
This site helps motivate kids to be healthier by joining in polls and forums. It also offers practical tips for parents. It is run by the Alliance for a Healthier generation.
www.nourishinteractive.com
Run nurses and registered dietitians, this energetic site teems with online games for kids, plus blogs, newsletters, health-hint calendars, lesson plans, and worksheets for parents and educators.