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Home › Articles › Parenting Preschoolers › Your Child: The Newest Expert on Nutrition

Your Child: The Newest Expert on Nutrition

Teaching Healthy Food Choices (Without Really Trying)

By T. Susan Chang

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My toddler, Noah, loves sweets. Today he was stuffing cake into his mouth with both his hands at a birthday party. By naptime, he was acting certifiably insane – shouting that he was hungry and thirsty, he had to go potty, he wasn't tired, etc. We finally put him down for his nap and hoped that when he woke up, we'd recognize our sweet-tempered, easygoing kid again.

When he did wake up, he sat up, rubbed his eyes and repeated that he was hungry and thirsty. I offered him some milk and asked if he wanted some nuts or some fruit. That's when he dropped the bombshell. "I want broccoli," said Noah. I deftly scooped my jaw off the floor and said, "Sure, sweetie. I can make you some broccoli." That evening, when we offered him a treat if he finished his dinner, he said, "I don't want a treat today." He then proceeded to demolish the heap of garlic-saut褤 kale on his plate.

Of course I felt prouder than proud – who wouldn't? What's more, in the last few months, Noah has demonstrated a growing fondness for mushrooms, spinach, cauliflower and Chinese cabbage. And with terrifying statistics about obesity and diabetes in the news daily, I think I'm as much relieved as I am proud.

Food Facts
"Only 2 percent of children eat a healthy diet," says Jennifer Wilkins, a registered dietitian at Cornell's Division of Nutritional Sciences. At first, Noah was like all his peers when it came to what he succinctly dismissed as "green food." Veg-o-phobia and diapers seem to go hand in hand. My colleague Melinda Hemmelgarn, a registered dietitian with expertise in childhood obesity prevention, says this is no coincidence. "Kids' taste buds are different from adults'," says Hemmelgarn. "Kids have more of them, and strong-flavored vegetables are magnified on little tongues."


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