Parents want their children to grow up to be healthy and happy. What you might not realize is that an important part to helping your child grow up healthy is teaching them about good nutrition. One of the main parts to good nutrition is eating a well balanced diet. The best way to make sure that your kids are eating healthy is to eat healthy yourself because most children learn from seeing and doing rather than just being told what to do.

No matter how well intentioned you are, sometimes eating healthy just doesn't work. In today's busy society it is not always easy to eat healthy, nor is it easy, to follow the steps needed to improve your eating habits. The reason it is so hard is everybody is busy juggling sports schedules, work schedules, and social schedules, so it is simply easier to grab a quick bite to eat from a local fast food joint or even grab a prepackaged meal from the cupboard or freezer. Here are some tips that you can follow to help your kids develop healthy eating habits.

Tip one:
Have regular family meals. Remember that even if you are eating take out or having a home coked meal a family meal is whenever you sit down together. Eating meals together as a family is going to do more than just teach your child healthy eating habits, it is also going to give you a chance to catch up with your children. Sitting down for meals, as a family is a ritual that you want to start at an early age, it also helps your children because it is something that they can count on and children do well when they have some structure in their lives. It has also been shown that children who sit down to meals with their family are more likely to eat fruits, vegetables, and grains, but they are also less likely to snack on unhealthy foods, smoke, use drugs, or drink alcohol.

Sitting down as a family to eat meals also provides you with a chance to introduce new foods to your children, but you can also act as a role model for how and what to eat. As your child gets older, especially the teenage years, they will probably try resisting eating dinner together as a family. The main reason for this is that they are trying to show that they are independent; however, studies find that they still want your advice. To get your teenager to want to eat with you again you can allow them to invite a friend over for dinner, you can have them help you plan and prepare the meal and you can skip the lectures and arguing at meal time, which makes meal time more pleasurable for everybody involved.

Tip two:
Kids, younger ones especially, tend to eat whatever is available in the home. In order to get your child to make healthy choices in the food department you will need to make sure that they have healthy foods available to choose from. You also need to maker sure that you serve healthy foods in the meals that you prepare for them to eat. One of the things that you can do is to work fruits and vegetables into your child's daily routine. The recommendation used to be five servings of fruits and vegetables each day; however, they now recommend that you eat as many as twelve servings of fruits and vegetables each day. Here are some other things that you can do to help your child make the right choices:

• Keep fruits and vegetables ready for your child to eat as snacks. You can also keep other healthy snacks in the house to make it easier for your child to choose health food over junk food. Other healthy snacks would include peanut butter with celery, whole-grain crackers, low-fat yogurt, and cheese.
• Serve lean meats and other good sources of protein, such as eggs, fish, beans, and nuts.
• Use whole-grain breads and cereals, this will allow your kids to receive more fiber in their diet.
• Limit fat intake by avoiding deep fried foods and choosing healthier cooking habits. Instead of frying foods, try broiling, grilling, roasting, and steaming.
• Choose low fat or nonfat dairy products rather than whole.
• Limit the amount of sugary drinks that are available to your children, such as soda, fruit-flavored drinks, and even fruit juice. Offer your kids water or low fat milk instead.
• Do not ban favorite snacks from your home, kids will begin to sneak around to eat them or even gorge themselves on it, which is unhealthy. Instead limit snacks, turn them into once in awhile snacks. You should also limit fast food, but it can still be a nice treat.

Tip three:
Be a role model for your kids. If you are eating healthy, the chances are good that your children will follow that behavior and eat healthy too. You can also limit your portions and not overeat. Talk to your kids about being full and not eating anymore, even if you have stuff left on your plate. However, if you are always dieting and complaining about your body you will be sending a different message to your kids, which can be a negative approach to food. Keep it positive so that your kids can develop a positive attitude about food.

Tip four:
Do not turn the choices over food into a huge conflict; it is very easy to do. Rather than trying to bribe or bargain with your kids to eat healthier foods the best thing that you can do is give them some kind of control over what they are eating, but at the same time limit the foods that are available for them to choose from. You should allow your child to decide if they are hungry, what foods they want to eat from the foods that are being served, and you should allow them to decide when they are full. Here are some things that you can do to control what is being offered both at mealtime and in between meals:

• Do not bribe or reward your kids with food. If they finish their meal that is fine, but do not offer desert as a prize for eating everything on their plate.
• Rather than showing your kids affection through food try giving them a hug, praise, or even spend some time with them. Never use food as a substitute for spending time with them.
• Do not force your kids to finish everything on their plates. The reason for this is that forcing them to eat when they are full teaches them to override feelings of fullness, which can lead to overeating later on.
• Have a predictable schedule of meals and snacks. This way they will know when they are going to have their next meal or snack, so if they are not hungry at the current time they will know that they can eat later.

Tip five:
Get your kids involved in the decisions. In fact, most kids love helping to decide what you should make dinner, not to mention they will also enjoy helping you make the dinner. The best thing that you can do is talk to them about making good choices when choosing what to eat and about what kinds of foods they should avoid or try to limit their intake of. If your child wants to help in the kitchen find things for them to do that are age-appropriate, this will help prevent injuries, but also giving them a feeling of confidence. While you are preparing the meal, take the time to talk to your child about what you are cooking. Talk about what ingredients you are using, their nutritional value, and be sure to include why certain foods are healthier for you than others are.

Tip six:
Have your kids' help you prepare their lunch for school. Having them help you pack their lunch will allow them to choose what they are eating for lunch, but also give you the chance to talk to them about the choices that they are making. More schools are offering a variety of foods for children to choose from off the school lunch menu, some schools have even eliminated sugary foods or high fat foods to help children learn better eating habits. If your child prefers to buy their lunch at school sit down with them each night to review the lunch menu to see what is being offered, talk to them about their choices, which ones are healthier than others?

Talking to kids about the choices, they make and allowing them to be involved in choosing the right foods is going to give them the tools that they need in the future to make the right choices when it comes to choosing foods. This does not mean that your kids are going to start eating healthier and choosing salads or vegetables over chips or fries, but the habits you create now can help them make better decisions later on.