Colour your child's dietary rainbow

As an early childhood educator you often you hear from parents when they come to pick their child up from care. “Oh, what are you feeding them?” or, “My child never wants to eat what I cook at home. How do you get them to eat here?”. When parents hear of their child’s successful and healthy eating habits during care, they will often then reach out for advice or on a solution for their child’s difficult eating habits at home. Since educators are not trained nutritionists, the only thing they can recommend for parents is to make food look colourful and attractive, while also having recipes available at our centre for them to take home.

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Hannah is one of the assistant educators in the kindy room who noticed four-year-old Sarah refused to eat lunch.

Before even trying what has been provided, Sarah will inform the educators that she doesn’t like what is for lunch and demand they give her something plain. Hannah and her colleagues would accommodate Sarah’s request by providing plain meals like pasta, rice and sandwiches. They have communicated these issues to Sarah’s parents while still encouraging Sarah to try the lunch provided.

Although the substitute lunch given to Sarah is a good short-term alternative, it isn’t a great solution for her refusal to eat. Establishing a lunchtime routine will make transitions from play to lunch a lot easier for Sarah as it provides her a set time to know that in ten minutes playtime is done and it is lunchtime. Eating lunch at the same time every day sets a feeling of security for Sarah and the other children.

As an educator, Hannah’s goal is to guide Sarah’s healthy eating. She does this by sitting down and having the same lunch as her, talking about what she likes about the lunch and what Sarah thinks is in it.

Hannah notices that this method best supports Sarah during lunch time, as it encourages her to try new things and enjoy different foods. Other ways to implement healthy eating habits and encourage eating is by educating children through fun and engaging activities. You can talk about the book Eat the Rainbow, (by Rena D. Grossman), discussing the various colours and food in those categories and the importance of each colour for our bodies.

Eat the Rainbow is a fun and simplified way of categorising the different foods and nutritional benefits they have for our bodies and can be a solution for children who are fussy at mealtimes. Spaghetti Bolognese is a favourite amongst the children and they have a lot of fun discussing the ingredients and slurping the spaghetti between their lips. Sometimes the end of the pasta hits the end of their nose, leaving a dab of sauce and the children laugh and try to do the same thing. Using fun and games to educate Sarah and other fussy eaters will help them feel safe, secure and supported at lunchtime. The goal is to be adventurous and confident when trying new foods.

Through health-based activities, Sarah is learning about her body and what it needs so she can continue doing things she enjoys, such as running, climbing, puzzles and reading. Through this learning, she understands that having a healthy diet is the best way to feel energised and happy throughout the day, while getting a good sleep throughout the night. Through Sarah’s interests, Hannah is able to implement supportive health-based activities, including singing and dancing. Sarah loves to sing, help make up the songs and do dances about fruit and vegetables.

Before starting to sing about carrots and broccoli, Sarah would poke her tongue out, say no and push her plate away. It took several weeks of song and dance, but Sarah now eats both carrot and broccoli when it is provided, usually while singing the song at the table with her friends.

Before implementing the above activities, Hannah had a discussion with Sarah’s parents about finding a solution for her fussy tastes. With their approval, Hannah slowly began encouraging Sarah and implementing a more secure lunchtime routine. Hannah has noticed Sarah settle in easier and feel more confident in eating the lunch that is provided, while enjoying it at the same time.

The transition from plain meals, to eating the healthy lunch the centre provided, took 10 weeks. During that time, it was imperative that Hannah wasn’t pushing Sarah so that she didn’t feel rushed or pressured into eating something she didn’t want to. Sarah’s parents have also acknowledged that they have noticed a change in her eating habits at home because of the simple changes made at Kindy.

Sarah is more accepting of cooked meals at home and is happy to try new things. There has also been a noticeable change in her behaviour since having a more wholesome diet.

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Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash