Healthy food can be a hit with kids

by Maggie Vink (Subscribe to Maggie Vink's posts)
Nov 1st 2008 2:00PM

Categories: Healthy Kids, Nutrition & Supplements

I recently wrote about healthy food options for school Halloween or harvest parties. My son's school harvest party was yesterday, and I opted to bring a healthy treat. I made ham, cheese, and granny smith apple sandwiches on whole wheat with a little honey mustard. I cut them into cute pumpkin shapes and arranged them on a festive tray.

As I brought the tray into my son's classroom, I was immediately dismayed. The food table was filled with bowls of candy, individual bags of chips, cupcakes adorned with gummy worms, brownies, and more cans of soda than you can imagine. The only remotely healthy item (besides my sandwiches) were some bags of pretzels mixed in with the chips. I walked into that classroom with a tray filled with 45 lovingly-made sandwiches and was quite certain my son was going to come home with those same 45 sandwiches. After all, I remembered the report that Martha told us about -- when given a choice, most kids simply don't like to eat healthy food.

When my son got home from school, he had an empty tray in hand. And -- wonder of wonders -- he told me that the sandwiches were a huge hit. He said the kids liked them so well they were almost rude and pushy about trying to get seconds. I was so thrilled to hear that even amidst a sea of sweets and junk food, kids will still opt for a healthier snack.

If you have to make a treat for a classroom party, dare to be different and make something healthful. Like me, you may be pleasantly surprised at the kids' response. Family Fun has some clever ideas for healthy, fun snacks that you can try.

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Comments (2)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

... 11-01-2008 @ 10:14PM

Yes! Good job!

I still maintain that parents make bad assumptions when they think kids always want to eat overly sweet foods all the time, and worse, many parents and teachers train children to like candy subconsciously merely because they hold onto those bad assumptions.

Humans (and kids especially) aren't always consistent.

Just because a kid whines incessantly for you to buy the sugary cereal with the cartoon on it or brightly-colored candy packages at the grocery store doesn't mean he'll necessarily want to eat the whole box when he gets home. However, parents force kids to do things like eat what they bought, and the kids learn that, even if it turns out they don't really like it, they have to pretend they do (and often trick themselves into thinking they do), or they won't get taken seriously.

Psychological investigation into cases of children witnesses make it very obvious how easy it is for children to rewrite what they believe is the truth if the adult signals are there. When adults assume kids like candy, they subconsciously end up doing many things to trick kids into actually liking candy more than they would naturally want to. And we've been doing this for many generations.

Way to go! It was very brave of you to make a healthy snack even though you thought kids wouldn't like them. And congratulations on the success of your treats! They sound delicious!

Andrew R 11-01-2008 @ 10:49PM

Good for you! Sometimes you've just got to take that chance and put the healthy foods out there for the kids. Who knows, you might get all 45 sandwiches back next time, but sooner or later they'll figure it out. It just needs to be a constant option more often then the sweets.

All the Best,

Andrew R