Denver Association of Family Child Care

Nutrition Tips for Parents

Sep 24, 2000

Be flexible. A wide variety of foods from several different food groups should be consumed every day. Provide different foods within the same group. If your child prefers sweet potatoes to carrots, or peaches rather than apricots, that's OK. All fruits and vegetables provide vitamins and minerals that are good food choices.

Try again. Continue to offer different fruits and vegetables, even if the child does not care for them on the first try. Present new foods in a creative way. A half peach on a small bed of lettuce with raisin eyes and a celery smile may be just the "sunny face" necessary to invite a youngster to try.

Experiment. Encourage your child to experiment with different tastes and textures. Children learn about foods by tasting, touching, smelling and by other sensory experiences. Offer your child different shapes, sizes and textures of foods to stimulate interest.

Don't worry. Children will eat the amount of food their body requires. Don't worry about how much your child eats at a single meal or even in a single day. Over a week, the choices should even out and provide a balance of nutrients that best meets the child's needs.

?¿½ Colorado State University Cooperative Extension. 1995-1999.
Contact Cooperative Extension Web Manager.
Home Page: www.colostate.edu/Depts/CoopExt/.