Tearing your hair out because your kids won’t eat your healthy food choices? Sometimes the solution is simple, but unexpected. One mom told me if the fruit is too big, her daughter doesn’t like it. She now buys the tiniest apples she can find and they disappear like magic.

Other parents tell me their kids give fruit the cold shoulder when it’s in the fridge but devour room temperature fruit. Try filling a bowl with grapes, bananas, tangerines and apples and keep it in plain sight on the counter or table.

Younger kids love to play with food, so serving snacks that allow them to play will ensure they get eaten.

• Dipping is good! Chunks or slices of fruit can be dunked in yoghurt; celery, peppers, carrots or cucumber (or be adventurous and try turnip) in any low fat dip are sure to please.
• Be an artist! Spread mini pitas or rice cakes with low fat cream cheese or peanut butter and then make a face with nuts or raisins.
• Kabobs are cool! Use cubes of cheese, chunks of cooked chicken or grapes on pretzel sticks. Fun to make and watch them disappear!
• Give them their own container of spread for whole grain crackers and banana chunks. Experiment with hummus, red pepper dip and low fat cream cheese.
• Offer a dull knife (those fancy dip spreaders are perfect) and let them cut a banana themselves.

As caretakers of our kids we often think we have to do it all for them. This is not the case!  Most kids like to put their own sandwiches and snacks together – that’s probably the appeal of those pre-made lunch kits kids seem to crave. Here’s how to recreate a lunch kit at home:

• Make a sandwich assembly line with bowls of shredded lettuce, tomato, peppers, onions etc and let them load up whole wheat buns or pita pockets.
• Send them to school with a nifty ‘Bento Box’ style sectioned lunch kit filled with a variety of foods where they can put the pieces together themselves.

Until next time, keep well,

Judy Foodie (Judy Scott Welden)