Newswise — With summer's end just weeks away, returning school kids soon must navigate the nutritional maze of school cafeterias. Experts from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center are urging parents to take this opportunity to talk to their children, even kindergartners, about making wise menu choices.
"Bad food choices in grade school can escalate into unhealthy eating habits by middle and high school that are hard to break," says Tiffani Hays, R.D., pediatric nutritionist at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, who counsels overweight patients as well as children with special dietary needs. Her advice:
"¢ First, discuss the lunch menu with your child, Hays advises. If children buy lunch, they should purchase and eat only one serving of any item. "It sounds like a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how many parents find out their child drinks two chocolate milks at lunch only when they come to clinic and we start talking about food," Hays says.
"¢ A better choice is to pack lunches that are healthy and allow limited purchases, especially for younger children. Some schools don't control how much children spend on meal credit cards. Don't give kids extra money to spend beyond the daily meal credit.
"¢ Some schools, perhaps inadvertently, encourage snacking because of birthday and other celebrations, or offer food as rewards. These extra calories can really add up, and the practice encourages over-snacking. Talk to the classroom teachers about healthy alternatives to cupcakes and other sweets, and at least offer fruit or other healthy choices for dessert at home on days when kids have parties at school."¢ Encourage your child to eat three meals a day and plan an afternoon snack. Skipping breakfast and/or lunch will only make them famished and send them foraging in the pantry after school."¢ Check a packed lunch box or bag after school to see what's been eaten and plan accordingly, especially if food is traded. If Susie regularly trades or throws away pretzels, substitute with some other healthy choice. Plan the after-school snack based on what the child ate earlier that day. "¢ Don't be critical or judgmental about your child's choices; the goal is to encourage honesty about what they eat, especially in the early grades. If they confess having traded their apple for chips, suggest a piece of fruit for their afternoon snack. Let it be known that orange drinks, chewy fruit snacks, or fruit roll-ups do not count as fruits."¢ To help prevent kidney stones (an alarming trend among children), try to limit salty snacks such as chips and pretzels and urge your child to drink plenty of water (not soda or juices). "¢ Check with your pediatrician if your children have food allergies and celiac disease, and prepare lunches accordingly. Otherwise healthy children should be able to eat healthfully from school-prepared food with some minor modifications. "¢ If you are not sure whether certain items on the menu are good for your child, take the menu to your pediatrician or nutritionist.
Remember and teach your child that there are no "bad" or forbidden foods, but that choices have consequences. If he or she had a hamburger and fries for lunch, that's the high-fat meal for the day, and dinner shouldn't include a lot of fat or sugar calories. Then make sure it doesn't. "Eating a school lunch will not be anyone's demise, but if you eat pizza at school every day and then stop by McDonald's after soccer practice, the cumulative long-term effects could be pretty serious," Hays says. "It's all about learning to balance."
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