PROMOTING HEALTHFUL EATING HABITS
FOR 3- TO 5-YEAR-OLDS AT MEALTIME

TEN TIPS FOR TEACHERS AND PARENTS

Think of ways that you can make mealtime and snack time a positive experience that paves the way for good eating habits. Here are some suggestions from child nutrition experts and the American Dietetic Association:

1. Sit with children and eat the same foods served to children. You are the primary role model for healthy and polite eating habits.
2. The eating area should be pleasant. You might choose to decorate the walls with children's drawings of food or create posters with positive nutrition messages (such as smiling children eating vegetables). As you know, the size of furniture and utensils should be age appropriate.
3. Family-style meal service is suggested. If you cannot arrange family-style eating, try to encourage children to determine their own portion sizes. Ask children if they want a regular portion or a bite-size portion just to try. Children should take, or you should serve, small portions and assure them that they can have more if they want.
   
4. Mealtime should not be rushed. Encourage pleasant conversation with children. Share food facts and ask questions: Where does this food come from? or How it is prepared? Compare cultural differences with food practices. Also, talk about gardening, cooking, taste, smell, and more.
5. Food should never be used as a reward or punishment. Place no special merit on dessert or sweets. Dessert is not a reward for eating "what's good for you." Restricting favorite foods may lead to wanting them even more or overeating them; this is called enhanced preference.
6. Teachers should encourage, but not force, children to taste the foods offered. A child may be feeling ill or have a strong dislike of one food. Forcing the issue can lead to a food aversion that can last a lifetime.
7. Children's food preferences are learned through repeated exposures to food. As many as 10 tries might be necessary before a child will accept a food. Respect a child's dislikes, but don't give up. Try again at another time.
8. Children should not be required to eat all foods offered. Allow children to judge their own internal cues of hunger. It's okay to eat very little at one meal. Children in early childhood programs soon learn that meals and snacks are offered at scheduled times and that nibbling throughout the day is not possible. Researchers are finding that the "clean-plate rule" could lead to children ignoring their own signals to stop eating when they are full.
9. Have children learn about and try a variety of foods. Familiarity with foods and seeing other children enjoy them will increase a child's likelihood of choosing a balanced diet later in life. Early childhood programs provide a wonderful opportunity for the "herd" effect: Children can influence each other to try unfamiliar foods.
10. Even young children can be given responsibilities for cleanup after a meal. As you know, young children love to help. Ask toddlers to carry their paper trash to the wastebasket. You can invite older preschoolers to carry their utensils and dishes to a dishpan, and assign one child the duty of wiping off the table when everyone is done.