Guaranteeing good nutrition for toddlers and teenagers is one of the challenge that parents always confront as all parents want their children to be healthy, as toddlers and teenagers start elementary schools, they go through remarkable physical changes of all kinds, thus their food intake becomes a critical aspect of this growth and development.
Recent research show that nourishing food not only makes a child healthier but also emotionally more stable and it improves school performance. Therefore, it appears that paying attention to our children's diets pays high dividends. Parents should adopt measures to insinuate nutritious foods into the family menus and ensure that nutritious foods is eaten by children and other family members.
BREAKFAST
A toddlers or teenagers in the classroom whose last meal was dinner the night before has gone about sixteen hours without food, and that child must be hungry, whether he knows it or not. A nutritious breakfast certainly provide energy for several hours until lunch. Traditionally in most schools, teachers schedule heavy' subjects, such as Mathematics or reading lessons during the morning hours, so it becomes even more important that the child's brain be fueled by giving him or her good, nutritious food. Providing a nutritious breakfast for toddlers and teenagers before sending them off to school, a parents should give a diet that is energy giving, rich in essential vitamins that aids brain function.
A breakfast diet with sliced fresh fruits, or vegetable stew with yam and hard boiled eggs, will be ideal for children of school age.
LUNCH
Parents particularly mothers should get creative and devise a way to pack their children's lunch in a lunchbox or sack launch that will make youngster be delighted with the launch box and would want to eat his or her launch. When a child gets home from school and ready to eat anything and everything he or she sees in the refrigerator or kitchen, it shows that the child is always bored with launch box and therefore jettison it. For school children's lunch, parents should get a couple of plastic containers with lids that say on and fill them with fruit cocktail.
Apple and orange slices certainly qualify on all counts nutritious, no preparation and relatively inexpensive. After school snacks should also be provided by parents as children of school age arrive home wanting and needing an immediate energy boost. Parents should post a notice on the refrigerator door indicating "what is inside" and let the child help him or her self.
Parents should also select a special spot where the child will find either that day's snack or a note telling him or her where to find it.
DINNER
The time honoured, traditional three meals a day breakfast, lunch and dinner seems the best way to ensure s balanced diet for children and adults. However there is no hard and fast rule about the number of time a child or an adult eats. And it is not a matter of life and death if a family member misses dinner. No child has ever starved to death because he or she was playing and forget to come home for a dinner. Parents especially mothers should allow common sense, flexibility and creativity go along way to make the evening meal a pleasant experience which children and every member of the family will look forward to.
Parents can achieve this by making food attractive and interesting. Also, youngsters should be involved in the family menu. Let them suggest foods, familiar and unfamiliar, although, some of their choices may need to be discussed in terms of whether or not they fit into the family budget. Children should be expected to taste every dish that is being prepared. If they don't like it, they don't have to eat anymore. This is an excellent way to expand their food horizons. Parents should occasionally take their children to the market or supermarket for shopping. It is a good place to give them choices. What you do not buy is an important as what you do buy. Always turn off the television set during dinner and other meal time. Make the table a place for good conversation. Avoid exposing your children to fast food as most fast food restaurants serve food that have fat their main calories. Even if the children may sporadically go to a fast food restaurant, parents must ensure that their daily diet is nutritious.
FOR NIGERIANS ONLY
FOR DINNER, SEMOVITA, EBA, FUFU AND VEGETABLE OR EGUSI SOUP WILL BE GOOD ENOUGH. RICE AND STEW OR FRIED RICE IS EQUALLY ADVISABLE.
EXTRA TIPS
Dental floss are better than toothpicks, as toothpicks will wear your teeth and could damage your gums. Flossing gives a better result altogether.
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