School Life: Food Tips for your child's next big chapter

Importance of inculcating healthy food habits at this age¹

When children start going to school, they start enjoying busy social lives and start developing their own interests and lifestyle.

Children of this age are quick learners and are influenced by friends and popular trends.

This is the perfect time to teach them about the importance of healthy food.

At this age, children undergo slow and steady physical growth.

It is important to help your child make good food choices by having a healthy range of foods available.

Food tips for inculcating healthy eating habits in your child¹

• Offer a range of foods from the following groups:
  
  • Fruits
  • Vegetables
  • Bread and cereals
  • Fish, chicken, eggs, legumes
  • Milk, cheese and curd
• Avoid giving processed foods including chips, sweet biscuits and muesli bars
• Try giving packed lunches from home are to learn about healthy food.
• Ensure that your child is able to un-wrap the food in the lunchbox

Here are some lunchbox ideas for you^1,2

• Variety of bread and fillings: Try bread rolls, bread with fillings such peanut butter, cheese, egg, and grated carrot, idli, dosa, upma
• Fresh fruits
• Vegetable sticks with dips
• Cheese and grainy biscuits: Either pre-packaged or homemade
• Homemade fruit muffins and cakes with carrot, banana or pumpkin

Tips to share with your kid

• Eating/ ingesting healthy food is essential for being healthy
• We should practice good eating habits
• Different cultures have different dining habits; it is important to respect others with different eating habits
• Food is essential to life support; hence, we should offer food to those in need