This article was written by dietitian, Isabelle Bouchard, MS, RD, LD
Isabelle Bouchard is the owner of Bamboo Nutrition based in Columbia, MO and Rochester, MN. We are a team of registered dietitians and therapists who specialize in improving nutrition and body image through experiencing peace with food and improving food behaviors.
You may be reading this article to learn about specific foods to provide your child, how to make sure they don’t eat “bad” foods at school, and what you can do to teach them about nutrition as they grow up with multiple other influences outside of your control.
These are such great things to be thinking about, and shows how much you truly care about your child’s health!
Let’s break this down into a few segments:
What are some common mistakes parents make when it comes to focusing on their school child’s nutrition? (Answered here)
What are some nutrition goals parents should try to meet for their school child? (Answered here)
What recommendations can parents follow for improving mental health and physical health of their school aged child? (Answered here)
Practically speaking, are there easy tips and tricks busy parents can do to provide healthy, wholesome meals?
In this article, we are only going to tackle the last question, question 4 and provide you with some practical tips. Read the following blogs to answer the above few questions!
Let’s dive in!
Practically speaking, are there easy tips and tricks busy parents can do to provide healthy, wholesome meals?
YES!
As busy parents, or caregivers, we need to learn how to save time without cutting important corners.
Another thing I think about as a mother and dietitian, is how can I involve my child in their meal planning and food choices to give them some independence, education, and also- save me time!
As a busy mother, one of the first things I try to lean on is: If I am going to get this kitchen messy, how can I make as much food as possible so I don’t have to do this again soon! Ha!
Double, or triple recipes I know my family loves.
Make all the sandwiches (or other parts of the meal/snacks) for school lunches/activities at one time- get all the ingredients out once, put them all away once.
Take advantage of the freezer. - Now this is trial and error sometimes. There are things that don’t freeze, or thaw well, and sometimes we learn the hard way. Accept that there will be some highs and lows!
Lean on friends for ideas and shared recipes!
Menu Planning
Think back to the Gentle Nutrition Triangle that we discussed in the first two blogs of this series, and remember that the most important thing is adequacy.
Make sure there is enough at each meal for everyone to fill up on.
This doesn’t mean you have to have a lot of the main course, it could be that you always have a veggie tray on the table, or bread and butter/oil, or crackers and cheese. Yes, if you’re thinking “crackers and cheese is a snack food,” then get out of your bubble, this can be a great addition to a meal if you think you need more variety and quantity to fill bellies.
Next I think about variety (per the triangle), and if I don’t have the time to cook 3 different things to give all the components to a meal that I would like (such as a veggie, grain/starch, and protein), then I try to find meals that are all encompassing.
I love lasagna with spinach in it! I enjoy tacos or enchiladas because I can include lots of different veggies and proteins! Another one I like is skillet meals, or using a baking sheet as I do, having sausage and roasted bell peppers and onions with seasoning. Crockpot meals, including soups and chilies, pot roasts, are great as well.
Menu Exhaustion
Menu exhaustion is such a common, normal thing to experience. For me, it happens almost every other week… I feel like I am ON IT! one week, then I have no energy to plan the following week, and thus the cycle continues. So how can we avoid this rut? Try to be just a little bit more consistent?
Follow recipe blogs, they can send new recipes to your email every week. Giving you fresh ideas.
Get a pinterest and “pin” your favorite recipes.
Print off the recipes you like and save them in a folder.
Use an app on your phone to organize all your favorite recipe websites.
Keep a note in your phone, or on the fridge, with all the meals you’ve made and liked. Including the ham & cheese sandwich because sometimes we are too tired to even think about something this simple!
Talk to your friends and say, “what are you cooking this week?” or “whats for dinner tonight?” I get a lot of ideas from my neighbor, including her favorite frozen pizza, or other frozen food ideas! This is super helpful and we can also share validation with each other that we don’t have it all together.
One thing the dietitians on our team do with our clients is menu plan. Sometimes we do this every week in session until it becomes easier and you have a bank of ideas stored up. We can help you move to more complex recipes, we can help you with grocery shopping and choosing the right ingredients for your health, and more! You don’t always need. to use a dietitian for this, but it can be helpful if you’re feeling really stuck and doing it on your own is not working.
How to involve my child?
Let’s break this down by age and give some practical examples.
2-5 years old: Parent provides the choices, let the child choose from the choices and eat as much as they need to fill up during the designated meal or snack time.
5-10 years old:
Give your child one meal per week that they get to choose. This could include take-out, a restaurant, or something mom makes at home. The older they are, the more choices they can make: maybe start with dinner once per week and then add a lunch, or they help you plan the groceries for breakfast options to have at home.
Let them add to the grocery list for snacks. Encourage your child to talk to the waitor, or the person at the grocery store themself to order their own food, or the deli meat from the meat counter, etc. Give them a script then let them go from there.
11-15 years old:
Give them responsibility for making their own breakfast or lunch. Be an observer and make sure they are eating, and eating enough! Remember that you are the educated one and are not just providing your child with responsibility to take things off your to-do list, but also to give them practice life skills. You are still the mentor and teacher here.
Give them a list of items at the grocery store and their own basket, or cart, you get some parts of the list, they get the other. Teach them how to pick out things appropriately. Give them new challenges for things to shop for (fruits and veggies are very different than choosing from one of the thousands of yogurts, or reading expiration days on milk, checking eggs for cracks, checking meat and fish for quality, etc.).
Let them choose their own snacks and listen to their bodies when they are hungry. Still monitor to make sure that they are not grazing, but eating mindfully and giving their body time in between meals and snacks to digest so they have an appetite for the next offering. We have a great tool called the hunger scale, that you can download for free! Put this on your fridge and help your child learn ways to listen to their body.
16+ years old:
If your child is driving at this point, provide them with a small food fund. However you work this out in your home is up to you. The amount, how they receive the fund, how long it lasts, if they have to work for it, etc. I recommend a debit card so you can see where they are typically eating and provide kind guidance, but also monitor spending.
Children at this age are gone from the house a lot. Help teach them how to plan ahead for activities before, or after school. Make sure they are taking enough food with them, thinking about what their body will need (hydration during practice, nutrition after practice, etc.).
Consider your child’s goals. Nutrition can have a big impact on their energy- mental and physical. If they have big goals for college and high grades, nutrition can support that! If they have ambition to be an athlete after college, or get a scholarship, nutrition can help or hurt them, they need to learn how to take care of their bodies!
As the parent, if you don’t feel like you are the best person to educate and lead by example, I strongly encourage you to meet with a dietitian. These formidable years are so crucial to the success of your child once they leave your home.