Healthy Snacking

We as parents try our hardest to make sure that our kids have clothes to wear, a bed to sleep on and food to eat, but do we take the time to make sure that they eat the right foods.

{{more}} There are the terrible twos, the tantrum threes and then it is supposed to stop, but I know quite a few four and five-year-olds who did not get the memo on when to stop. These moods often time force us to treat them with biscuits for breakfast or chocolates for supper, and good behaviour is rewarded with ice cream or sweets. Whatever the excuse or good reason, we as parents need to make sure that our kids are introduced to good snacking habits early in life and the best way to do so is by example.

So instead of the fruit juice or juice at night try a glass of water or milk, it does the body good. A bottle of water to carry to school to drink when thirsty, fruit in their lunch bag to snack on during break and sugar-free or no added sugar juices to carry to school. Reward them for good behaviour with toys or a healthy snack like popcorn, pizza, nuts, tortilla chips, pretzels, fruit or vegetables. A child’s smile is precious and warms our heart to see, so practise healthy snacking to preserve their baby teeth.