This is the second part in a series on healthy eating for teens.

In Teenagers and Healthy Eating: The Challenge,  I laid out some of the difficulties teens face when it comes to eating right. Today I give 10 tips for painlessly guiding teenagers toward healthy food choices.

1. Set an example. Even when it seems like they aren’t paying attention, or doing the opposite of everything you say, your teens are watching. Pay attention to your eating habits attitude. Are you always snacking, complaining about your weight, or obsessing over calories? You can be open about your struggles, but only up to a point. Try to save the rest for when your teens aren’t around. Parents’ eating habits are the number one influence on their kids adult habits, so think long-term.
2. Eat meals as a family. I know this is easier said than done, but make a point of eating together at least several times a week.
3. Educate. Explain to your kids about your food choices. Why is steaming better than frying? What makes a balanced meal? What vitamins and minerals are important? In small doses, let them know the short and long-term effects of unhealthy eating.
4. Get teens involved. Teenagers are old enough to be responsible for planning a menu or cooking a whole meal or dish. If you haven’t cooked with them until now, it’s not too late to start. Talk about choosing recipes, estimating quantities, and cooking techniques. Take them to the store and show them how to compare prices and choose produce.
5. Respect their preferences. Teens can surprise you in their willingness to try new things. But don’t try to talk them out of their choices–work with them to find the healthiest alternatives within the limitations they set.
6. Influence their friends when you can. Teens may worry that their friends will make fun of them for eating healthy foods. Make your house a fun place to hang out, where (mostly) healthy food is served. My teens have even brought their friends into the kitchen to cook. When your child is asked to bring food for a party, suggest something homemade—the friends may even be impressed.
7. Keep healthy foods available, both cooked and uncooked. If you wait until your teen is hungry to start cooking, it’s too late. Teens often eat whatever is in sight, although they may complain. I’ve learned that the more vegetables I serve, the more gets eaten.
8. Encourage kids to take food from home instead of buying fast food. A stylish insulated bag can help, along with setting spending limits that allow some choice.
9. Know your limitations. Make it clear to your teens how far you are willing to do in terms of shopping, food preparation, budget, and menu choices. Becoming a martyr to your kids’ food whims never helps.
10. Know when to intervene. If you suspect that your teen has an eating disorder, speak about it with a professional and bring the child for treatment as necessary.

Do you use any of these techniques? How do you steer your kids toward healthier eating?

You may also enjoy:

Starting Solids  the Easy Way

Ten Tips for Freezing for a Crowd

Foods for Putting Quick Meals Together

: image by Mike Baird

This is the first in a series on teenage nutrition and eating habits. How can we guide adolescents toward healthy and practical food choices?

One day my teenage son was visiting my sister-in-law, who has small children. My sister-in-law offered lunch to my son. She told me later that he “inhaled” the food!

Larger quantities are only the start. Teenage eating habits can make the picky and irregular habits of toddlers seem like child’s play.

In the first part of the series I’d like to address the many reasons that feeding teens and making sure they get nutritious meals is a challenge.

Also see Part II: 10 Tips for Steering Teens to Healthy Food Choices

Challenges of Teenage Nutrition and Eating Habits

1. Fads and fashions. My teenage daughter has become a vegetarian. She makes good food choices. But sometimes adolescents latch onto fad diets that compromise their health.
2. Peer pressure. At this age, children need to fit in more than ever. If everyone else is eating a burger, they’ll get one too.
3. Dieting and Appearance. Teenagers care intensely about their looks. While this may encourage them to exercise and watch their weight, they might be willing to take shortcuts to get there with extreme dieting.
4. Obesity. During adolescence, weight issues may begin or exacerbate.
5. Emotions. Overactive hormones lead to emotional ups and downs, which can affect appetites and eating habits.
6. Schedules. Who is busier than a teen? When mealtimes roll around, they are either out of the house or asleep. My teens have been known to scrounge for a meal well after midnight.
7. Exercise. Many teens are into bodybuilding, gymnastics or other sports that burn calories. These sports may also require extra calcium or protein. Long-term health has to considered here as well.
8. Independence. Teens are nearly adults, and don’t want to be told what to do. Sometimes we get frustrated because their eating choices interfere with our menus, shopping plans, schedules, and budgets. This leads to power struggles, which may be taking place around other issues as well.
9. Quantities. As I mentioned in the introduction, growing children can eat much more than we imagined.   Dealing with the sheer amounts of food. Finding the refrigerator empty one day, and full of leftovers the next, is enough to drive any home chef insane.

Readers, I have a few ideas about how to address these challenges. But I’d like to hear more from you for my next post. Even if you don’t have teens, you probably know a few and have been one yourself.

How can we guide teens toward nutritious eating without harming our relationship?

: image PinkStock Photos!

You may also enjoy:

Review of Kosher by Design for Teens and Twenty-Somethings

Ten Kid-Friendly Foods Incorporating Leftovers

Help for Picky Eaters

Toddlers have small stomachs, yet they never seem to get full. It’s normal for toddlers to eat 4 or 5 small meals a day. Keeping them supplied with healthy food is a challenge for parents.

When planning snacks, it doesn’t usually matter whether you spoil a toddler’s appetite for the next meal as long as you’re offering healthy food. Within a couple of months or years the child will naturally fall into the family’s regular meal routine. In the meantime kids have a lot of growing to do. And nothing upsets a family’s equilibrium more than a hungry toddler.

But because they have small stomachs, it’s important to make every calorie count. Don’t let one of their mini-meals consist of processed food.

The thing to keep in mind is that you don’t need “snack” foods for your toddler. We’ve been conditioned to think that a snack has to be something that comes in a package. But those snacks cost a lot, and they are likely to contain ingredients that our toddlers don’t need. If we keep them out of the house, the kids won’t think of processed snacks as part of their daily diet.

Anything you serve as a snack, should be good to serve at a meal as well.

Safety note: Children should eat while sitting upright, and toddlers still need supervision while eating. Choking is silent.

Here are ten snack ideas for a busy toddler.

1. Frozen peas.
2. Tortillas with peanut butter.*
3. Rice cakes with cottage cheese.
4. Sliced vegetables with chumus dip.
5. Cooked vegetables, like sweet potatoes.
6. Hard-boiled or scrambled eggs.
7. Chunks of chicken (why not?)
8. Whole-wheat toast with sesame paste.
9. Fruit salad or plain fruit, like bananas.
10. Frozen fruit.
11. Homemade muffins, pancakes, patties, crustless quiche, and so on. You can even make your own crackers. These take advance planning but they are easy to pull out of the freezer and defrost quickly, especially if you need something for  an outing.
12. Leftovers from dinner or breakfast.

One final note: Toddlers are notorious for being picky. And for not eating even when you are sure they ought to be hungry (and vice versa). If you’re offering healthy foods and they are gaining weight, you can be sure they get what they need.  So stay patient and remember that this stage will pass.

What snacks work well for your toddler? Please share in the comments.

*Ask your doctor about the safety of adding allergenic foods to your toddler’s diet. I’ve read that it’s no longer a concern–in other words, waiting longer than four months to introduce a new food won’t increase the chance that the child will develop an allergy. Parents still need to look out for allergic reactions when trying new foods, of course.

You may also enjoy:

10 Kid-Friendly Foods Using Leftovers

Make Your Own Convenience Foods for Your Baby

School Lunch Ideas

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This is the fourth part of a series on cooking with children. Previous posts in the series:

9 Great Reasons to Cook with Your Kids

How to Cook with a Baby in the House

How to Cook with a Toddler in the House

Modeling aprons–you can win one

Please welcome Yosefa for today’s post on preschoolers. Check out her earlier post on 4 Great Ways to Cook Cauliflower.

Cooking with preschoolers, even a single child, can feel like running a circus.  You have to balance their attention and safety with timing your courses to be cooked, not burnt.

First, choose your goal: distract or involve.  If you are constantly putting things in and out of the oven, or have many things boiling on the stove, you will want to distance your child from the action.  Other times the food prep is G-rated, but you simply don’t have time for explaining and teaching.

Distract

Always know where your preschooler is so she doesn’t end up in front of the oven when you are trying to put a hot pot inside.  Playing with pots and pans is timeless.  I once bought a very cheap set of multiple sized pots that lasted one holiday season.  When I no longer felt comfortable using them, I tossed the glass tops and let my kids use them.  My 4.5 and 6 year old LOVE to “cook” things in these pots while I am preparing dinner.

Many children like to clean the floor or fronts of cabinets with a damp rag or baby wipe.  They feel like they are helping without you needing to reorganize you menu plan or your drawers.  Having a lower drawer or cabinet with child-safe Tupperware, pots, spoons, or refrigerator magnets is a great way to let your preschooler get into something while staying safe.

Magnet craft idea: If you have an overwhelming supply of promotional magnets, cut them into different shapes, paint them with bright colors, and let your kids create pictures on the fridge.  It will look a lot nicer than the castles and towers my kids make with the original, unpainted magnets!

Involve

Before you start make sure that you are in the right mindset, so it is fun, not frustrating.  You will need ample time, energy, and patience to stand over them and clean up afterward.  Evaluate your preschooler’s dexterity to determine if they are ready to learn knife skills.  Once the skills are learned under your supervision, kids can cut soft foods and spread things with dinner knives or plastic knives when your back is turned.  Teaching preschoolers to find or prepare their own healthy snacks when you are too busy to help is a valuable lesson.

Counting is a terrific “helping” activity kids can do.  It makes them feel smart and helpful.  “The recipe says I need six eggs, how many does it look like I already put in? How many do I still need? … Can you help me count them?”  I love dishes that are flexible on numbers.  “Five people are coming to dinner, how many eggs do you think we should use?” Muffins can be very flexible on ingredients, conforming to what you have in the house or however many eggs, carrots, zucchini, bananas, nuts, or raisins your preschooler recommends.  Even if they come out too flat or heavy, they usually taste good.  I love to see the proud glow on my son’s face when I take his advice in a real grown-up activity like cooking.

Taste testing and seasoning can be the perfect place to involve young helpers.  Demonstrating that you value your child’s opinion builds confidence and shows them they matter.  I like to use reusable silicon muffin or mini muffin molds to hold a limited amount of seasoning.  Then I let my kids decide how much should be added to the dish.  I let them smell different spices to decide what would be good, or taste fresh herbs from the garden.

Menu planning and shopping with your child is a great way to teach them about making healthy, economical choices and planning balanced meals.  I’m not a big planner, but I do occasionally take one well-fed and well-rested child along to help shop.  It is a good place to talk about why you do or don’t buy certain things, and let your child help make decisions.

Yosefa lives in Israel with her three young children and shares her kitchen experiences on Cooking Outside the Box. For more ways kids can help, see her post on Kids in the Kitchen.

You may also enjoy:
Interview with Yosefa
10 Kid-Friendly Ways to Use Up Leftovers
12 Tips to Get Kids Used to Healthy Foods
How to Cook with a Toddler in the House

A friend of mine gave birth recently, and a few families in the community made meals for her. While it’s usually possible to order out nowadays, home-cooked meals are usually tastier and more nutritious. Providing meals shows the family that they are cared for. It’s a wonderful way to welcome the baby to the neighborhood.

I’ve compiled some tips for making meals for families who have just given birth.

A foster mom suggests: “Perhaps add a newly adopted (or foster) child as well. The often sudden addition means the family had zero time to prepare.” Point taken!

1. Don’t wait until after the baby. Sometimes friends make a “casserole shower,” with each guest bringing a frozen casserole for the new parents to pull out of the freezer.
2. Make sure the meals are wanted. Maybe they already have enough food. Don’t say, “They’ll just put it in the freezer,” because they might not have room. Remember, even after a few weeks or months life is still hectic with a baby—you can always keep the food in your freezer or offer again another time.
3. Find out what they like to eat. Many people have allergies or other food restrictions. See below for other ways to help instead.
4. Use containers that you don’t want back. You don’t necessarily have to buy disposables—try reusing a container you already have. Wrap it well so it won’t leak.
5. Coordinate. Do you know other people who are supporting the family? Arrange to offer help at different times and brainstorm for other ways to help.
6. Label containers with your name and phone number, type of food, and instructions for heating or defrosting. And state whether or not you want the container back! If you do, arrange to pick it up.
7. Choose foods that are ready to go. Lasagna in a foil tray is better than a container of soup that has to be reheated in a pot. A fruit platter is better than a whole watermelon.
8. Arrange a convenient time to drop off the meal. Life with a new baby is often unpredictable, so call in advance and stay only a minute unless you are sure the mom wants company.
9. Suggest other ways to help. Support from friends and family is critical, especially in the early weeks. New parents often can’t think much past the next diaper change. An occasional phone call can help a lot, but don’t take offense if mom can’t talk. Offer to buy groceries, take older children to the park, run errands, throw a load in the machine, or make necessary phone calls.
10. Keep an eye on the family. Sometimes a caring friend is the first one to notice that something is wrong and can arrange for more help. Often a family adjusts smoothly to a new baby, but the transition can also be traumatic, especially if the baby, mother, or another family member has even minor health issues. This article explains symptoms and treatment for postpartum depression.
11. For breastfeeding mothers. Breastfeeding mothers rarely need to restrict their diets to ensure high quality milk. Breastfeeding problems can interfere with enjoyment of the new baby. Help the mother find a local La Leche League Group, or professional breastfeeding support if necessary.

Here are a few ideas for meals for new parents:

Egyptian Rice and Lentils

Rice and Chickpea Casserole with Tomatoes

How to Make Patties from Anything and Everything

Universal Crustless Quiche

Winter Squash Quiche

Have you ever cooked for a family with a new baby? Share your tips in the comments!

You may also enjoy:

Feed Your Baby Frugally (Series)

Starting Solids the Easy Way

How to Cook with a Baby in the House

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This is the third part of a series about cooking and children. Part I: Nine Great Reasons to Cook with Your Kids and Part II: How to Cook with a Baby in the House and Cooking with Preschoolers: Distraction or Interaction?

So now that your baby is a little bigger do you feel like a pro? Well, maybe you’re just “a good amateur,” as my mother once described a caterer, and that’s good enough. You’ve probably developed super-hearing to catch the first peep, and can strap your baby in a sling without needing a mirror.

Then the toddler stage hits. Unless you are blessed with one of those complacent, self-sufficient toddlers (they do exist), toddlerhood can be twice as hard as babyhood. Especially when you want to start cooking.

Not only do toddlers sleep less, they crawl, reach and climb. They want to be in the center of everything. Sometimes it feels intrusive, but they have a compelling need both to imitate you and to get hands-on affection and feedback. If you keep this in mind you can use it to your advantage.

Toddlers are also stubborn. Once they have seen you do things in a certain way, they object if you change the routine. So be sure the routine is one you can live with.

Most tips in How to Cook with a Baby in the House apply to toddlers too. Simple meals in discrete steps work best as your child grows.

1. Toddlers want to play. Part of cooking with toddlers around is supervising their play while you are working. You will learn how frequently to check on him. Ideally, you’ll have a view of his play area from your workspace.
2. Put your toddler to work. Toddlers like to be assigned important tasks, under your supervision of course. Examples include counting out items, pouring from one container to a (much) larger one, sorting, mixing, and tasting. Make sure to give them real things to do, because they catch on quickly to “busy work.”
3. Time tasks according to his schedule. If you have to do something you don’t want him around for, wait until he is busy with something else, then do the task quickly. Trying to distract him in advance doesn’t often work.
4. Know your limitations. If you are super-efficient and like to get things done as quickly as possible (like me) you’ll need to build up your toddler tolerance slowly.
5. Make the environment toddler-friendly. Clear your workspace to prevent accidents and distractions. Remove sharp, hot or breakable items.  But you don’t want to keep these things away from your children forever—it’s better to teach how to treat dangerous items with respect, under your supervision.
6. Don’t rush. Allow plenty of time for cooking with toddlers, including extra cleanup time. Expect spills and splashes—they’re part of the fun.
7. Talk to your child. Explain what you are doing, and why.  You’re teaching sequences, safety, conservation, counting and much more—concepts important for cooking and life in general. And she’ll feel equally involved in your activities, which she is.
8. Most toddlers have short attention spans, so move quickly between tasks. It’s likely that your child will start to cry or get into something she shouldn’t, so be prepared to set aside the cooking for a bit.
9. Involve your child in cleanup. A water-filled sprayer and a rag, a small broom, and a narrow trickle of water with a sponge were favorites of my kids when they were that age.

Above all, make it fun!  A toddler who feels good in the kitchen is not that far away from giving a real hand in the kitchen.

You may also enjoy:

9 Great Reasons to Cook with Your Kids

10 Kid-Friendly Foods Using Leftovers

Should Toddlers Eat Dessert?

Photo credit: madgerly

In this article, pediatrician and childhood feeding expert Dr. Katja Rowell protests a decision by the St. Paul’s city schools, explaining that banning candy and high-fat foods won’t prevent obesity. She argues that labeling foods as unhealthy can backfire, leading to inappropriate dieting and eating disorders.

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Book Review: An American Wasteland

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Extreme Frugality: Twenty Memories of My Mother

Photo credit: WellspringCS

I’m continuing my series about cooking with children.

Part I: 9 Great Reasons to Cook with Your Kids.

Part II: How to Cook with a Toddler in the House 

Part III: Cooking with Preschoolers: Distraction or Interaction?

I once took a counseling call from a mother having a hard time with her new baby. She complained that the baby starts to cry while she is doing important tasks. When I asked her for an example of a something she has trouble finding time for, she mentioned chopping onions for lunch.

I suggested that the onions could be prepared early and stored in the refrigerator until needed. If she has six hours until lunch, couldn’t she find five minutes when she is not caring for the baby? “Wait until the baby goes to sleep, then take care of the onions immediately,” I offered. She said, “You’re saying that I need to plan in advance. I don’t like to do that.”

So I told her that I have six children. After she said ‘wow,’ I told her that after my fourth child was born—yes it took me that long—I had to get my shopping lists tightly organized. If I were to run out of a critical ingredient in the middle of cooking, a lot of people will be hungry and unhappy and the day could be ruined.

“Planning in advance” and making other changes is an important part of our development as parents. Before we have children, we have  control over our time and can schedule as we wish. But babies have their own schedule, often a source of endless frustration. Accepting that our lives have changed and acting accordingly is one way that we mature as parents.

Fortunately it’s possible to put healthy meals on the table, stay calm, and meet our babies’ needs at the same time. Usually. Here are some ideas:

1. Have meals on hand for the early weeks. In some communities people make a “casserole shower” or have a committee to provide meals for two weeks. You can also start storing food when you are pregnant. Even after the early weeks there will be days when you will be very glad to have a casserole in the freezer.
2. Make the main meal your household priority for the day. The baby and other family members come first, but cooking comes before cleaning. If you start preparing early you won’t find yourself rushed at dinner time. Babies also tend to be calmer during the mornings.
3. Break down the cooking into small steps. Steps might include peeling vegetables, setting water up to boil, marinating, measuring, etc. Plan meals that don’t require standing over the stove, and be prepared to set the cooking aside when your baby needs. When you do a little at a time, cooking seems to take hardly any time at all.
4. Lower your expectations. It’s okay if your meals aren’t perfectly balanced or if the menu repeats frequently. You will have many years to cook your gourmet favorites. Experiment with skipping steps like sautéing, peeling, browning, etc. The difference in results may not be worth the extra effort.
5. Bring baby into the kitchen with you. You can smile and talk to the baby while you are working. Because you are right there to calm her down quickly, you’ll return to your cooking task sooner. Straight on the floor is better than in an infant seat, especially one placed on the table. Carrying baby in a sling gives you two hands to prepare a meal, but avoid a front carrier when you are at the stove. If you get used to cooking while baby is up, you’ll get more time to relax while he sleeps.
6. Get help when you can. Partners or older children can learn to take part in, or take over, cooking, or care for the baby while you work.
7. If your baby is eating solids, strap her in the high chair for meals and give her some finger food right on her tray. This works well from about 7 or 8 months. It can keep baby occupied for 2 minutes or 20 minutes, depending on the baby.
8. Once your baby is crawling or climbing, you’ll need to make more adjustments. Keep a drawer or shelf with unbreakable kitchen tools for baby to play with. Every so often add something different. You might have to save complex tasks for when baby is asleep or being watched by someone else.
9. Use a timer creatively. You can use it to remind you when to check the food for doneness, and when to move on to the next step. I used mine recently to remind me when to turn on the oven for preheating.
10. Keep a running menu and shopping list. Then you don’t have to think too much when you get that chance to cook or shop.
11. Keep future meals in mind. If you are making rice to serve with chicken, can you make extra for a casserole? Can I bring these leftovers to work tomorrow? Do I have enough ingredients to double the recipe and freeze for another day?

There’s nothing like having a new baby to spur us toward learning shortcuts and setting priorities. But the most important lesson I learned as a new mother was to put my baby’s needs first. This shift in attitude helped me stay relaxed, in the kitchen and elsewhere. Ultimately it gave me more flexibility and time for myself, and my babies were happier too.

What tips can you share about cooking with a baby in the house?

* It’s Word-of-Mouth Wednesday Thursday! This is the day when I gently encourage (or, you might think, pester) you to spread the word about Cooking Manager. You might:
– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested
– Link to a post on Twitter
– Join my Facebook page and invite your friends
– Subscribe via email
– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update or on your site.
Thanks! I really appreciate any help. Word of mouth is the BEST.

*I stole this idea from one of my favorite sites, The Happiness Project.

You may also enjoy:

Cooking with Our Mothers, Cooking with Our Children

Feeding Your Baby Frugally: The Early Months

Ten Essential Kitchen Tools for Breastfeeding Moms (a guest post at Breastfeeding Moms Unite)

Photo credit: Ella Novak

This post is the first part of a series on cooking with kids. See also:

How to Cook with a Baby in the House

How to Cook with a Toddler in the House

Cooking with Preschoolers: Distraction or Interaction?

A child’s strongest need, even more than food or affection, is to imitate adults. That is how the ygrow up and become independent. But all too often, we relegate children off to the playroom while we do the “important” things. I know we are all short on time and it’s often easier to do things on our own, but getting your kids into the kitchen at a very young age pays off in the long run.

This post was inspired by a mom who complained on Twitter that her daughter was not in preschool long enough for her to finish cooking. Children are a part of our lives, and for most of us that involves cooking.

Kids want to do what they see you doing. Take advantage of this at every opportunity, and make sure they are imitating the right things!

1. Cooking with kids provides endless opportunities to talk about health and food choices. You can pass on your religious and ethnic traditions too.
2. There is no better way to learn than by observing. Kids can see how you hold a can opener, rinse off a glass, empty a pot, or flip over a pancake.
3. Practice language skills, by describing what you are doing and asking and answering questions.
4. Kids learn math concepts like counting, comparing, timing, measuring, weighing, logistics and more.
5. Kids experience different colors, tastes, textures sounds and smells in the kitchen. Point out the smell of finished bread and burnt onions, or the thickness of the cake batter. One of my kids could identify a dozen different spices by smell.
6. Kids learn safety skills like using potholders, holding knives correctly, and cleaning up spills.
7. You become more organized. You’ll need to plan which tasks are suitable for kids, and which to do alone. You’re more likely to keep cooking spaces clear and put things away promptly when kids are around.
8. You’re teaching kids a process. Some kids grow  up thinking that meals magically appear on the table.
9. The sooner you start involving your kids in cooking, the faster they will be capable of really helping.

Most kitchen skills can be taught to preschoolers. Sure you want to play it safe, but being overly cautious isn’t good either. I’ll give  ideas for kids of different ages, in a separate post.

Ten Tips for Avoiding Kitchen Accidents

How to Cook for a Family with a New Baby

Ten Kid-Friendly Foods that Use Up Leftovers

Series: Feeding Babies Frugally

Photo credit: clogozm

Over at Super Healthy Kids, Amy answers a question about toddler servings:

My friend and neighbor Liz, asked me this week, what appropriate portion sizes are for a toddler.  It’s tough to use the old rule of letting their appetite dictate how much they eat, because when my kids were toddlers, they would often be “too full” for the rest of their dinner, but somehow have plenty of room in their little tummies for dessert!

In her answer she  gives a sample menu with quantities and calorie counts.

I still like the old rule. We can’t control what our children eat, but we do decide what is available. And toddlers don’t really have room for dessert on a regular basis. You can argue that if you are too strict about sweets and snack foods it will backfire but I’m not convinced. Even if you feel that way, though, offering desserts on a daily basis is too often.

I am fairly strict about what I buy, but don’t ask my children (except for toddlers) to refuse sweets when they are offered. I still respect parents who are strict about sweets all the time. No one can say how much sugar or processed food is okay for a child to eat.

Many of us enjoy sweets and want them in the house. But part of being a parent is modeling good habits for our children, so I suggest keeping those foods on a high shelf and saving them for after the kids are in bed. Desserts other than fresh or dried fruit can be for weekends or birthdays.

Amy and I agree that if a child is eating healthy food, it’s safe to let a child decide how much.  But how much do you offer? My rule of thumb is one tablespoon of each food at every meal, multiplied by the age of the child. So a two-year-old can get two tablespoons each of meat, potatoes, and carrots. If he wants more, give it and if he doesn’t, the meal is over.

Counting calories or portion sizes is unnecessary and can become an obsession or a power game. It’s more important to notice whether a child is growing and developing normally, especially if there are changes.

If you enjoyed this post you may also like:

Feeding Babies Frugally Series:

Part I: The Early Months

Part II: Starting Solids, When and Why.

Part III: Starting Solids the Easy Way

Part IV: Making Your Own “Convenience Foods” for Babies

Ten Frugal Strategies that Pay off as Your Children Grow

Toddlers and Weight Gain