Encouraging Kids to Eat Healthfully
Healthy eating habits established early in life are a strong predictor of long-term food choices made into adulthood. Eating styles and patterns followed at a young age set the foundation for a life’s worth of food consumption. It’s important to create a fun, safe and encouraging environment around food for kids, as this can lead to improved health outcomes and a positive relationship with food. The grocery store is where it all starts, where choices are made at the shelf edge, and these foods are provided to children whose growth and development rely on sound nutrition.
Fun With Food
Toddlers and school-age children are sorting through many new thoughts and feelings, some of which include how and what to eat. Younger children are often curious and inquisitive about tastes, textures and smells associated with food, while older eaters may be finding their favorite flavors and go-to meals and snacks. Now is the time to regularly introduce a variety of foods to help expand children’s acceptance and enjoyment of different products. Some parents craft weekly grocery lists alongside their children so little ones can have a greater influence on what foods are available in the home.
[RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Shining the Spotlight on Food Allergies]
Encourage shoppers to make mealtime more of an adventure for their families with recipe cards in the physical or digital aisle, a greater number of coupons dedicated to kid-friendly fare, and expanded options in your kitchen equipment department, such as kid-sized aprons or small silicone spatulas for holiday baking.
In the Kitchen
There’s a sense of pride when we contribute to the success of something, even a tasty family breakfast on Sunday morning. The creativity involved in putting together food is a spectacle for kids and heightens their appreciation of nutrition. Any effort to get kids in the kitchen to construct their own meal, snack or beverage, puts them in charge of what they eat or drink and helps build important life skills in meal preparation.
Your retailer can support these interests by offering dietitian-led personal shopping tours with kids and their parents or chef cook-alongs for children, or by setting up tables with kid-friendly activities such as fruit and vegetable scavenger hunts and stickers.
Framing Up Food
Perspective is everything. When it comes to children in particular, the attitude conveyed toward certain foods will be noticed. Avoid assigning a “good” or “bad” distinction to foods. This can make children think that they should fall in love with a certain food if it’s considered “good” or turn up their nose when presented with a “bad” food. Show kids just as much enthusiasm for a fresh, juicy pear as a gummy bear, or for a crisp whole grain cracker as a gingerbread cookie, and you may persuade youngsters to give equal attention and attempts to either food.
Work with your category strategists, packaging specialists or private label managers to find better ways to position healthy packaged foods toward children. This may also be a good time to expand your in-store sampling program to include exotic fruits or a better-for-you station with kid-centric foods.
The first years of a child’s life can determine years of habits, including eating habits. Your retailer can be a champion for good food that nourishes people at a pivotal time in their early lives.
