Happy Healthy Childhoods

If you and your family live in Southwest Florida, congratulations!  You have your own little piece of paradise as your family playground.

Our mission at Child Care of Southwest Florida is to “enhance the lives of children and their families”. One of the most important ways to do this, is by encouraging families to do fun activities together, spending quality time with one another.

There are so many fun things to do in Southwest Florida with your children so spending quality family time is easy.

You may have read about many of these activities in our last eBook, “12 Fun Things to do With Your Children in Southwest FL”. Now, we would like to provide you with a few tips that will help you enjoy these activities, such as knowing what to pack, and learning about the specific destinations that provide you and your family with fun in the Florida sun! Here are the tips that we will be rolling out over the next few months:

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Whether you currently have children, take care of other people’s children, or intend to have children in the future, feeding a child and ensuring that their nutritional needs are met can be an uphill battle…especially if you’re trying to introduce them to new food.

No doubt, convincing children to eat healthy foods instead of junk that’s jam packed with aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, and numerous foods containing mood altering food dyes, can be a major chore.

Hopefully you’ve learned a thing or two over the past few months by reading this blog, specifically our series on 12 Nutrition Hints & Tips for Your Children. In case you missed the series, it’s all recapped below.

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This is the twelfth installment of 12 Nutrition Hints & Tips for Your Children which can also be downloaded from our free eBook library.

A recent Reader’s Digest article entitled, “Foods that Harm, Foods that Heal” listed some excellent “Do’s and Don’ts” to follow in regard to your child’s nutrition. Some of these have been mentioned in our eBook, but this is a quick, simple reminder of what you should and shouldn’t do in order to keep your children eating healthy!

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This is the eighth installment of 12 Nutrition Hints & Tips for Your Children which can also be downloaded from our free eBook library.

Numerous studies have shown that the rate of childhood obesity continues to rise in the United States. Doctors are particularly troubled by this problem because it can lead to very serious health risks, such as:

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This is the seventh installment of 12 Nutrition Hints & Tips for Your Children which can also be downloaded from our free eBook library.

Until recently, the model for healthy eating in the United States was a guide called “The Food Pyramid”.

However, in 2011, the USDA (the agency in charge of nutrition in the United States) switched to a new symbol called MyPlate. This is a colorful plate with some of the same messages as the Food Pyramid such as eat a variety of foods and eat less of some foods and more of others.

However, the pyramid had six vertical stripes to represent the five food groups plus oils.
Whereas, MyPlate features just four sections:

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This is the sixth installment of 12 Nutrition Hints & Tips for Your Children which can also be downloaded from our free eBook library.

An easy way to begin a healthier lifestyle for you and your children is to do a little “tweaking” to the recipes that you prepare regularly and that your family enjoys. With just a few changes, these dishes can be healthier and just as satisfying. Here are a few suggestions:

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This is the fifth installment of 12 Nutrition Hints & Tips for Your Children which can also be downloaded from our free eBook library.

“Lead me not into temptation; I can find the way myself.” – Rita May Brown.

If your child sees a jar of cookies sitting on the counter, it will be much harder to convince him to have carrots instead for a snack. However, when all of the options in the house are fairly healthy, then your child will have several snacks to choose from, without the temptation of unhealthy foods. By simply not having the calorie-rich, high-fat, or high-sugar snacks available, it will make things much easier for you and your child. How can you make it easier?

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This is the fourth installment of 12 Nutrition Hints & Tips for Your Children which can also be downloaded from our free eBook library.

Many habits can take only days to form, but may take weeks or months to break (or more, depending on the habit). This stands true for good habits, as well as bad habits. If you instill good eating and activity habits in your children from the start, it will make proper nutrition much, much easier to sustain. Here are some tips that can help your child develop good eating habits early on:

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This is the third installment of 12 Nutrition Hints & Tips for Your Children which can also be downloaded from our free eBook library.

Sometimes children are more likely to eat something if it looks like “fun”…even if it’s good for them! Think about it. Which looks more fun and appealing to a child, a fun shaped, frosted cookie with brightly colored sprinkles? Or, a stalk of broccoli? Most children would immediately reach for a cookie, but turn their nose at a vegetable. But, what if that broccoli stalk was actually a tree in a “forest of fun”?

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This is the second installment of 12 Nutrition Hints & Tips for Your Children which can also be downloaded from our free eBook library.

So, you took the time to shop for all of the right foods, carefully prepared a wonderful, healthy meal, and placed it in front of your little angel with a huge smile. Your child takes one look and shoves the plate away. Your spirits sink, and you are forced to transform from Betty Crocker into either a Drill Sergeant (You WILL eat this and like it!) or a used car salesman negotiator (Take at least 3 more bites if you want dessert!) This scenario may be all too familiar to those with young children, or even older children who still have picky eating habits. Although meal times may seem like a constant power struggle, they don’t have to be!

Here are a few tips from the Mayo Clinic’s website that will help you “fight the good fight” in your efforts to provide a balanced diet for your picky eater….

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