Getting Your 10-13 Year Old to Eat!

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.

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Tips for Feeding Preteens

A Preteen is usually defined as being a kid that is between to 10 to 13 years old. The good news is that most kids are just lovely during these years and being naturally active they will eat anything on their plate.

However some preteens might be pickier because they have actually slowed down growing a bit. If the child eats less, it might simply biological. However if there is a lot of emotional drama going on around the food then you might have some problems.

1.
If your child is picky about eating food realize it might be more about you than the food …ego struggles are likely at this age. Patience and non-resistance is key.

2.
Do not be surprised if your child is a binge eater or craves one particular food. As long as it is not an unhealthy food like sugar you should indulge the craving.

3.
Train your child to eat eight servings of antioxidant laden fruit and vegetables a day by eating by color!

4.
Do not be surprised if your preteen starts talking about becoming a vegetarian; this is a 'hot topic' around the first decade of life and should be encouraged as long as your child gets all of the vitamins they need in supplements (especially B12 which is only found in meat.)

5.
Discourage your teen from being an emotional eater; explain how food should not be used to abate extreme feelings or avoid dealing with reality.

6.
Be aware of the signs of anorexia and bulimia and get your pre-adolescent help quickly if you suspect self-image problems; even though these are disorders that are more associated with teenagers they can start a very young age.

7.
Reward your child financially or otherwise somehow if they resist the temptation to eat in the school cafeteria and take a brown bag to lunch

8.
Continue to take your child shopping and encourage him or her to read nutritional labels and try new foods

9.
Encourage your child to cook meals for the family; in some areas of the country you can even send your ten year old to a cooking and nutrition class. Usually these types of classes advertise through a Learning Annex or extended education brochure.

10.
Your child can read and learn from online sources at this point so be sure to take advantage of interactive tools on the internet that might encourage him or her to pay more attention to her health.

Above all be patient, understanding and talk to your kids. Understanding where they are at goes a long way towards helping them develop life-long healthy eating patterns.

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