Due to changes in school and daycare, parents have found themselves responsible for more lunches and snacks at home than ever before. With the school year still a bit uncertain, we turned to Leslie Stein, Executive Director of The Goddard School Mason to share her expertise feeding kids well-balanced lunches.
The starting point for every school and daycare lunch menu are the USDA School Lunch Guidelines which include: Bread products that are at least 50% whole grain, fruits and vegetables are served every day and green, leafy vegetables must be served once a week. Regular and flavored milk must be nonfat or 1%, and foods cannot contain trans fats.
Parents can also learn from these USDA guidelines when providing lunch for their kids. “It’s important for childcare providers as well as parents to stay informed on the most up-to-date guidelines for meals,” says Leslie. “Parents can learn how impactful a well-balanced diet is for their child’s day-to-day life.”
The USDA recommends that lunch plates are made up of half fruits and vegetables. This doesn’t have to be as hard as you might think, and can still include crowd-pleasers.
“Some of the favorites in my program are grilled cheese, pizza, raw carrots, cooked squash, pineapple, grapes and crackers,” shares Leslie. “Any combination of these foods would make a well-balanced meal. Even when you make grilled cheese, just add tomato soup, watermelon and milk you have a balanced meal.”
It’s also important to consider kids’ eating habits amidst big changes. It’s common for children to disconnect from basic needs in times of stress. This can cause them to under eat, over eat, or refuse certain foods they typically enjoy.
“Keep in mind eating is one of the few things children have control over no matter what. Giving your children a choice at mealtime will help,” says Leslie.
Healthy Eating Tips for Kids
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Build Interest. Teach kids about where food comes from by planting a vegetable garden or including them in the grocery shopping.
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Cook Together. Allow your children to pick a recipe that they can help make or teach them how to pack a well-balanced lunch.
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Eat Together. “Teachers in my program eat with the children at mealtime. They talk about what they have to eat and what the kids have to eat. They will say things such as, ‘can you really eat that whole piece of chicken?’ Or ‘I love how you are eating your grapes. Now let’s eat your peas too,’” says Leslie.
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Model Behavior. As a parent, kids are looking to you to show them how they should feel about something new. If you are excited to eat your fruits and vegetables then they will be too.