What Your Child Needs To Eat Vs What Your Child Wants To Eat?

As a parent, you will always want to give your child only healthy foods and drinks that foster their growth, both physically and mentally. But haven’t we all been kids to know that the healthiest foods just do not please a kid’s palate? Instead junk food rules over their food preferences. Therefore, it’s always a conflict for the parent to decide what the child needs to eat vs what the child wants to eat.

Of course you don’t want to deprive your baby of what they like to eat, but it is not always feasible to let them have it all! Let’s take up one food item at a time that your child may want to eat and see how we can replace it with what they need to eat.

1. Need – Healthy drinks like fruit juices

VS

Want – Unhealthy soda and frizzy drinks.

As kids, I never even knew what soda was, but kids these days not only know but also consume soda regularly. This definitely is scary as a parent because too much soda is too much sugar and too much carbonated water! You can replace this unhealthy drink with healthy drinks for kids that can be made easily. Choose a fruit drink whose colour is close to the soda of choice like – blackberry instead of cola. Make a slurp-worthy smoothie that will trick them into making the big switch.

2. Need – The iron-rich greens.

VS

Want – Oily potato fries that do no good.

I, till date love to binge on potato fries but as an adult I do know to draw my line, that is not the case with my munchkin who is all of 20 months! You would think it is easy to trick this little one into skipping the fries but no! So again, I use the shape trick by switching the finger shaped fries to a cartoon shaped spinach pancake! If you are skeptical about your child adapting to a spinach pancake, you could buy organic baby food online like Millet, Barley or Rice flour mix that are equally nutritious and make delicious pancakes out of it.

3. Need – Brain booster Greek Yoghurt

VS

Want – Ice creams and custards!

Just the sound of the ice cream truck is enough to make a child jump in excitement. You can receive the same excitement by serving Greek Yoghurt that is a super food for your baby. Greek yoghurt is high in protein and full of healthy fat which boosts brain power and keeps your little one active. To get them to enjoy this healthy option is by luring them with a few colorful treats. I add a handful of dried or fresh fruits to a bowl of yoghurt and sometimes just to see a twinkle in their eye, I add chocolate chip.

Go ahead, give these tricks a try and see how happily your child will turn towards healthy food options!