According to Healthy Eating For Kids, sending a small treat with lunch on occasion can help entice a child to eat his or her healthy home-packed lunch.

March 8, 2010

Jackson’s Lunch:

• Chicken, Cheese and Greens Pinwheels (I use a multigrain tortilla and always read the ingredient list.  Many are made with shortening which translates to partially hydrogenated fat, otherwise known as trans fats.)
• Pickled Green Beans
• Blood Orange Segments
• Blue Corn Tortilla Chips
• Dark Chocolate Hershey Kiss

I’m reading the American Dietetic Association’s Guide to Healthy Eating for Kids: How Your Children Can Eat Smart From 5 to 12 by Jodie Shield, MEd, RD, and Mary Catherine Mullen, MS, RD.  The version I have is checked out from the library and was written in 2002, so it’s slightly out of date.  Even so, I figured there was good information to be had, and, as suspected, I’ve come across some good pieces of advice.

We all struggle with myriad parenting issues, and nutrition is only one of them.  I believe that if kids eat healthfully, then maybe some other issues won’t be as daunting as they could be.  For example, kids and teens who eat breakfast have more energy, do better in school, and eat healthier throughout the day.  But what happens at lunchtime?  Does the lunch you pack get traded away? Given away? Thrown away? Brought home uneaten?  How do you get a child to eat his healthy home-packed lunch if no one is there to make sure he does?

Well, the dieticians who wrote Healthy Eating for Kids have some suggestions that I think are worth trying.  Here they are:

• Plan lunches together so kids are aware of what is for lunch and have some say in it.
• Allow them to play first.  I remember when I was teaching that recess was after lunch.  Kids didn’t want to sit through lunch; they wanted to get on the playground to socialize and blow off steam.  So, many kids would rush through lunch just to get outside.  Plus, allowing kids more time for exercise first allows them to work up even more of an appetite.
• Pack special lunches on special days.  I think themed lunches are fun for obscure  holidays (and regular ones, too!).  National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day is on April 2!
• Try new foods like exotic produce.
• Give them a special note as a surprise in their lunch box or written on their apple in nontoxic marker.
• Include prizes in their lunches so that the meal is reminiscent of a fast-food kids’ meal.  Just be sure it isn’t something they’ll get in trouble for at school since some school guidelines prohibit toys.  Stickers could be fun, though.
• Use fun lunch equipment.
• Send favorite foods healthed up if necessary and possible–pizza with a whole-wheat crust, for instance.
• Include a special treat occasionally.
• Pack extras to share with friends.  This is maybe my favorite tip since I love the idea of spreading the word that healthy can be very tasty!  Again, just be sure this is okay with your child’s school.

I want Jackson to eat what I send for him, and so far it hasn’t been a problem since his lunch times are closely monitored by the teachers.  I know, however, that this kind of supervision won’t be around forever.  So, I want to be armed with some ways to remind him that the food I send is the food I want him to eat and that he should be eating.