Shopping with children, particularly young ones, can be a trying experience. Their eyes pop out at the tempting chocolate bars in the candy aisle, and they can barely contain their excitement when they see their favourite sugar-laden cereals. Here's how to make the trip to the grocery store a happy and healthier one for everyone.
1. Start at home. Before you head out, get your children to help make the shopping list. Ask them to add their favourite healthy items.
2. Use your shopping list as an educational tool. Have older children arrange the list according to Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating.
3. Shop when stores are not busy to avoid crowds, if possible. Weekday mornings or early on weekend mornings are perfect. This will give you the time and space to shop with your little ones uninterrupted.
4. Feed your kids before shopping. A hungry child will want to eat everything in sight and will be cranky, so fuel up on a healthy snack or meal before you go.
5. Avoid the aisles loaded with chips and cookies. If there's something you need to pick up from the forbidden aisles, you can come back later when you don't have the kids. This helps the children associate the supermarket with healthy eating.
6. Involve your toddler in the shopping experience. In the fruit and veggie aisles, ask her to help you choose the best apples or the most colourful carrots. Children appreciate being involved.
7. Turn a trip to the grocery store into a scavenger hunt. Bring pictures of the healthy foods you're planning to buy. The older children can locate the items in the pictures and bring them to the cart, and younger children can use
them to identify different foods and colours.
8. Take advantage of sensory experiences. Let your baby or toddler feel, smell and even taste (where acceptable) the items you're putting in the cart.
9. Go for colour. Each time you shop with your child have her pick out one new red (or green or orange) item to try out at home. This is a good way to get her interested in eating a variety of healthy foods.
10. Introduce your children to new tastes. It's an important part of teaching them to eat healthy foods. Grocery store deli counters will often give you samples of cheeses and meats. Get your children to taste-test some healthy new choices. Let them add their favourites to the cart.
11. Avoid temptation. Choose a checkout line that has the fewest tempting treats.
12. Get your kids involved in preparing meals. But make it age-appropriate; three-year-olds, for example, can wash produce and tear up lettuce for salads, while four-year-olds can peel oranges or mash bananas and cut up produce with child-safe scissors. Getting them interested in the preparation is an easy way to get them to try out new food.
13. Set a good example. Parents are the primary role models for their children. By shopping for, preparing and eating healthy foods with your children, you will teach them how to eat nutritiously for life.
