Saturday, October 16, 2010

10 Commandments of healthy eating for parents

I received this as an e-mail recently and thought it was worth sharing.  We try to follow these guidelines in our home.


The 10 Commandments of Healthy Eating for Parents

It's as simple as counting to 10!
  1. Thou shalt not force, bribe or coerce thy child to eat.
  2. Thou shalt set a good example by eating at least five fruits per day thyself.
  3. Thou shalt make mealtimes pleasant.
  4. Thou shalt encourage thy child to help in meal planning, preparation, and cleanup.
  5. Thou shalt back off when mealtime becomes a power struggle.
  6. Thou shalt accept food "binges" as phases that will eventually pass.
  7. Thou shalt accept the fact that thy child is an individual and thus will dislike certain foods (and there may be many).
  8. Thou shalt not give up on introducing thy child to new foods. Thou shalt realize it sometimes takes 10 tries to get a child to accept a food.
  9. Thou shalt use this division of responsibility for eating: As the parent, thou art responsible for deciding when and what to serve. Thy child is responsible for deciding how much (if any) will be eaten.
  10. Thou shalt give thy child a multivitamin-mineral supplement if he is a picky eater.


3 comments:

Unknown said...

Very nice! I would probably edit number 2 to include veggies. I think that is the one I will start doing right now. It is easy to do when I think of it as setting an example. Why is it so much easier to do healthy things for ourselves when our children are also beneficiaries?

Jennifer said...

Good eyes! I didn't even notice it just said fruit! Five fruits a day might be a bit much - definitely include some veggies, lol.

Unknown said...

I like this too. We are eating healthier now that Justine is eating what we eat!