“Information doesn’t change behavior,” was something an old boss of mine told me in my early days as a dietitian. I refused to believe it at the time but I now understand what she was talking about. Providing nutrition education to people doesn’t always result in healthier eating habits. If only it were that easy.
Yet this is what many recommend when it comes to improving eating habits in kids. What most people don’t realize is that when issued inappropriately, nutrition education can make kids less interested in healthy eating. But when it matching kids’ development and interest, it can be very powerful.
Here are 5 mistakes parents often make when it comes to educating little minds about food and health:
1. Too much too soon: I understand how passionate parents can be about nutrition and good health but this can lead to complicated nutrition information before children are ready (using terms like saturated fat, high fructose corn syrup and pesticides). What most parents don’t realize is not only do children’s developing minds not understand complex topics, they can grossly misinterpret them.
“Children who find learning fun in kindergarten will be successful later in school, ” an ex-teacher told me as she was complaining about schools’ focus on “early achievement.” The same goes for nutrition — forget the complicated stuff adults don’t even understand and make it fun for kids. In fact, kids learn best when they get involved such as picking out food at the store, helping in the kitchen and putting together colorful plates.
2. Underrating habit building: I have found that parents tend to underrate the learning that occurs with everyday food experiences. Think about it, you can learn all the benefits of something and may even try it for a while (and feel great!) but then you get sucked in by your old habits because it’s what you know.
The food habits children are building are by far the most important education they get! Enhance these daily interactions with little tidbits of information. Does your child ask for the same food they had yesterday? Let them know we don’t eat the same things every day (message: we eat a variety of food). Does your child want to eat when he is bored? Let him know snack time is in an hour away so let’s do something else (message: we don’t eat when bored).
3. Instilling a fear of food: Jill Castle, pediatric nutrition expert explains why making food the bad guy isn’t the way to go. When we label foods as “bad” or “ban” them we bring more attention to them — and fail to teach kids how to eat them.
Instead, focus on frequency. Your child wants another treat when they already had ice cream earlier? Let her know you already had something sweet today so let’s skip it and have it another time. This is teaching them that you have these foods less often but they are still enjoyable — and they will get them again.
[I know a growing number of parents are raising kids on no processed foods and avoiding food dyes and preservatives. This can be tricky as most young kids (under 6) will recite the dangers of such items without truly understanding their meaning. School-age kids, who are concrete thinkers, may take this danger too literally, driving undo fear in eating a piece of food. A more moderate approach may be best, discussing the importance of “real food” without instilling fear that creates conflict with eating.]
4. Informing of future health risks: Most kids simply are not able to comprehend future risks to their health. So telling them they need to worry about diabetes or heart disease, because it runs in the family, goes in one ear and out the other.
Instead, help children see the connection between eating and meaningful activities. Kids that play soccer will have more energy to run if they eat a balanced meal before game time (I know you want chips but in order to have energy for your game, a sandwich with some fruit is better). If they ate too much cake and feel bad, remind them how too much of certain foods can make us feel (I love cake too but too much of it can cause a stomach ache. I’m sure you’ll keep that in mind next time!).
5. Focusing on portion control instead of self-regulation: Children are born with the ability to self regulate their food intake. What does that mean? To test self-regulation, researchers would give a preload of food and see if kids adjust their intake at the next meal. A 2009 study in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine found that kids with poor regulation at 3-5 years not only gained weight the fastest but had the highest BMIs over a 9 year period.
What is the key to preserving self-regulation? Trust and teaching. Trust your child when they say they are still hungry or full but teach them how to rely on their tummy in the modern world. Keep them on track by offering regular meals and snacks (at the table) in age-appropriate portion sizes but allow them to decide if they want to eat less or more.
The goal of nutrition education is to provide just enough information in developmentally appropriate ways until a child is ready to be on their own. Too much, you risk misinterpretation and eventual burnout. Too little, and you have missed opportunities to build positive connections to nutritious foods and physical activity.
In Fearless Feeding, we’ll go through each stage of development and recommend specific messages and strategies to maximize learning.
Let’s talk education. What confuses you most about teaching nutrition to your children? What would help you do a better job?
References
Francis LA, Susman EJ. Self-regulation and rapid weight gain in children from age 3 to 12 years. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2009;163(4):297-302.
When I talked to the Disney folks about not liking their new exhibit Habit Heroes, there was such a disconnect. They broke pretty much every one of your rules! The person I was talking to tried to reassure me that they didn’t talk about “obesity” but did warn kids that they could get diabetes and heart disease, and they talked about moderation, and portions. Yuck! I hope the exhibit stays shutdown, or else it needs a major overhaul! I do wonder about using the term “real food” with kids, do you think then they will, with their little pre-logical minds, not hear, then that the other stuff is “fake?” I too wonder how to talk about it, as Ellyn Satter says, the less talk the better. I think kids hear “growing food” or “real” and hear “good” and “bad.” This is tough stuff! I had a mom tell me I was being irresponsible to not teach children about nutrition. I feel that children who are trusted, will learn for themselves that they don’t feel good if they only eat candy at a snack. No amount of telling them that is as powerful as them experiencing it themselves. They can be trusted, within a supportive and healthy feeding relationship! I wish I had a writing partner! When is your book coming out? Looking forward to it!
@Katja — I just read about the Disney exhibit! I think it goes to show how much misunderstanding their is about helping children be healthy and eat well. So much work to do! The book is out early 2013. It is nice writing it with someone. Let me know when you’re book is out and I’ll review it!
Our struggle right now is for when a snack or meal has multiple choices, which happens during breakfast and some snacks at our house. Our oldest will be very persistent in her choice, say oatmeal, then once it is fixed decide that’s not what she wanted or she isn’t hungry. She knows she can be honest with us regarding her hunger status and her food options, so my husband and I struggle with the “This is what you requested, so this is what you get.” without making it a power struggle. Snacks, she can go without, breakfast should be eaten but it also doesn’t need to turn into an a la carte mommy and daddy have turned into the waiter either.
The dye aspect; our oldest is 6 and is old enough to understand if you eat red dye you get a blistered rear end. Our 3 year old’s symptoms aren’t as strong as our 6 year olds, so it is harder for her to comprehend.
@Ramona — I know that can be tricky. Sometimes kids will behave a certain way to get attention — and many times the answer is just to ingore the unwanted behavior. I would let her skip if that’s what she decides so then she can see the consequence of being hungry. My daughter went through a week once without eating breakfast and has been eating it ever since! You could also try taking the choice out of breakfast and serving one thing like one kind of cereal, pancakes or french toast (with fruit and other sides). Let me know how it goes!
I think this is a great post. I really love everything you wrote. I’m glad you mentioned about the growing number of parents avoiding dyes/preservatives, etc. I would love it if you could elaborate on this. When I was a new mother I read “Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense,” and loved it. Now, however after having a child who does seem to be “chemically sensitve,” if you will, I struggle to know how to make put all food on an even play field. Does that make sense? I just think it’s so much harder now that there is so much garbage in our food to act as if it’s all just fine to eat, and yet I definitely don’t like to label foods as good and bad? Could you go into more detail about how to handle this ‘Real Food’ issue? Thank you, and I am very much looking forward to your book.
Jessica — I don’t think there is an easy answer to your question. When it comes to food sensitivities/allergies parents do need to explain to their children that they react to certain foods (we will discuss this more in the book). If there are no sensitivity issues, parents have to decide what they feel confortable with as far as what they allow in their home and what their child eats outside the home. For me, I stay nuetral about the items I’d like Big A to eat less (or none) of and allow her to experiment when out and then we talk about it later with many teachable moments. If you provide the example at home and gently guide your child, while allowing for some experimentation, I think they will be less likely to rebel and grow up to make concious food choices. Does that make sense?
Great post. This is actually true for teens too. My daughter is 17 and she’s just now becoming concerned about weight gain but she could care less about the future health effects of poor eating. I try to lead by example.
Yes, that makes sense. Thanks for the response. I guess I need to just see what I feel comfortable with and confidently move forward. Sometimes I am undecided on something and my children sense that. It seems to cause more problems than I would like. Thanks for you insight.
I didn’t read through the comments, so I apologize if this is a repeat… There are so many confusions with feeding the kids… One of the biggest issues I have is teaching kids to listen to their bodies vs. having scheduled meals and snack times (and getting kids to eat enough to get them to the next meal or snack time – especially dinner to breakfast). You said above, to delay the child until snack time (teaching don’t eat when you’re bored), but what if the child truly is hungry? How would we know the difference… only the child can truly know if he/she is hungry vs. bored.
I also have a hard time with not labeling foods as bad – especially when I’m reading so much about HFCS and sugar and what it does to the body. We by no means avoid sugary foods, but we do try to avoid HFCS as much as we can, but now I’ve read there’s no difference between the two. I’m not sure I quite believe that, but I do realize that they are both not good for your body.
I could go on and on, but I’ll quit there. 😀
Great questions Deb. When my kids are hungry between meals I allow fruit as an option. If they are really hungry they will usually say yes but if it’s just because they are bored (or want pretzels or something), they will say no. Try that and see if that helps.
As for bad/good food, the problem is the judgement that goes along with it (a food is bad and you are bad for eating it — that is not a parent’s intention but how kids take it). Additionally, it sends the message that single foods matter most when it’s really the total diet over time (a healthy diet can contain about 10% empty-calories food). It’s fine to have a nutrition mantra at home and teach it to your kids. Maybe yours could be that “Your family prefers to eat real food that is fresh and tasty.” The key is to focus on the positives in the diet and as they get older and have the ability to truly understand more complex topics, you can discuss more about HFCS and other items.
Your information is right on. These are things I have learned from experience. I wished I knew this years ago when I was going through this process with my daughter. Weight remain a big issue but we make the focus on getting healthier and not being that slender body. After all everyone that is thin is not healthy. Great post!
Thank you for the post. It is a challenge learning how to educate kids on eating healthy. Your tips are very helpful. I agree, just by using the right language, and letting kids have some freedom with food is a great idea.
We need to teach children to trust their inner wisdom…. not portion control. That is counter-intuitive.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on nutrition education. Regards
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