With a three and a half year old at nursery who will start school in September, I am becoming increasingly aware of how much his diet is changing and potentially could dramatically change when he is out of my care. I managed to shelter him more or less until he was three from sweets and lollypops and only having some chocolate at Easter. Now, it is difficult to go to the supermarket without a fight every time he sees anything vaguely resembling a sweet packet. A fight isn't the answer and I do allow sweet treats but sometimes I am struggling to know how to deal with it.
The incessant selling and promoting of processed cupcakes, decorated biscuits, sweets and chocolates that appear at nursery events is alarming. Cooking, as part of the nursery activities I actively encourage but what they produce is always along the same line. It's cheap to produce sugary treats and nursery doesn't have much money. I do wonder though why they can't just make cheese scones or something similar, for a change.
I have recently downloaded the Change4Life Sugar Smart app which is pretty good for gauging how many sugar lumps are in foods. In a lot of cases it is alarming and if you read my last blog post about my Toblerone binge you will see that we as adults could really benefit from using this app too!
Food education does seem to be improving in schools however, which gives me some hope that when out of the home my son will continue learning the right way.
I still believe that the best way to teach children is in the home, which is why I have created the #KidsInTheKitchenChallenge. The aim is to promote getting our children involved in cooking at home depending on their age, whether it's, watching, mixing, chopping, stirring, adding.... it all helps. Children from a young age love watching and helping with food preparation. Let's embrace that and teach them about their food and how it is prepared. Many parents find that picky children really benefit from this too, as they start to get involved and see how their meal develops.
Equally getting children involved in shopping for the food locally is also a great education for them. Ask them to help you choose the fruit and veg, show them the meat in the butchers (my butcher gave my son a trotter to give to his dad...he thought this was brilliant!), let them smell the bakers shop and the fish market (saying that I used to have to stand outside the fish monger as a child because it use to make me retch!). Generally though, this should be a positive experience.
I would like to add finally that you don't have to do this every meal or every time you go shopping but just make a point of adding it into their life. I have found it very difficult over the past year to take my 3 year old shopping. Supermarkets were a nightmare because he wanted to get out the trolly and walk...and then run. Locally I had to take him in the pushchair otherwise he was all over the place (and often still is). Once, when he was two and a half he reached out to get an apple in the greengrocer and tipped out of his pushchair so that he was on his hands and knees and the Maclaren pushchair was on his back...like a turtle! He came out happy after the owners sent him out with an apple, grapes, a banana and some strawberries...I vowed to leave him at home next time...
It is only now, at three and a half that I have reintroduced him to shopping again. I'm being brave and facing my fears. He may be a master vegetable eater but I still need to do more with the food education and practice what I preach! Why don't you do the same?
Get onto the highstreet and buy local.
Join us in the #KidsInTheKitchenChallenge and #BuyLocalChallenge.
Why not do tell us what you are doing? or show us a photo or a video and then nominate a friend or grandma!?
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