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Food Fight
5 Common Nutritional Mistakes Parents Make
By Lisa B. Samalonis
Getting a child to eat healthy is a daily challenge for many parents. In today's on-the-go world, pediatric obesity is on the rise and one reason for that is poor nutritional habits.
There are 5 common mistakes parents make when it comes to nutrition, including using food as a reward, offering high-calorie drinks, enforcing the clean plate club, indulging in fast food and keeping too much junk food in the house, according to Temple University Children's Medical Center pediatrician Dr. Denise Salerno. Dr. Salerno says by recognizing these mistakes, parents can take steps to get their family back to better nutrition.
Yet many a parent has been down this road, and once you head in that direction it is hard to turn around. "My daughter, Zoe, was often not eating her dinner so I started to use dessert as the reward," says Jennifer Reid Holman, mother of Jade, 6, and Zoe, 4, from Philadelphia, Pa. "I dangle the dessert over her, even though I know it is wrong. I have created a monster by this because I have used it so much that they both have come to expect dessert every night."
When Reid Holman tries to say "no," she says her children don't want to go to bed without having dessert. "More often than not, I'm serving dessert," she says.
How can parents undo the "food as reward" mentality? Dr. Salerno suggests unlinking the connection between the meal and dessert. "Have the child eat dinner until they say they are full, and an hour or so later have a healthy snack time," she says, noting that if the child is truly full he may even forget about the snack. If not, offer fruit or fruit smoothies, sugar-free Jell-O or other low-fat snacks.