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It's only natural for parents to want to nourish and comfort their children.

One of the first ways we nurture our children is through food. It starts at birth and as our children grow mealtime takes on a whole new meaning as they enter the toddler stage.

A toddler's increased mobility and a move towards independence can make food issues a challenge to say the least.

At this stage, toddlers are not only developing motor skills, and independence, they are forming food related behaviors that will determine how they view food for life.

Fortunately, there are ways improve your child's chances of becoming an adult who can make good food choices of a lifetime of optimum health.

But first let's look at how we adults bring some unclaimed baggage to the table.

Food is sometimes used as a bribe to coax good behavior from willful toddlers, or it can be used to pacify irritable and bored children.

Parents also want to reward good behavior with yummy treats which unintentionally increases the child's risk for poor eating habits.

An often silent factor involved in unhealthy eating habits is that parents secretly hope the child will grow into their weight. This unfortunately is not true. As children grow so does their appetite. All they will be doing is super sizing their caloric intake.

Now that we know the causes, it's time to make changes.

The thing first you can do is give yourself a break and avoid meltdowns at the table. Since toddlers want to have control, it's only destructive to force a change in eating habits and enforce table manners.

One way to encourage your toddler's autonomy is to let them make basic choices from foods you organize for them.

For example: On a small a plate put a variety of colorful soft cooked vegetables, fruit, a palm sized portion of meat, and a serving of bread (older toddlers love to use wraps and pocket bread). Place it on the table, announce the meal or snack time, and let the child come on his/her terms and let them put together their meal on a separate plate.

Allowing the child to pick what and how much (of what's on the plate) will satisfy their need for control without making the food or mealtime the issue.

Next, do not include dessert with meals. This goes for the rest of the family also. Adding sweets to end a meal will only encourage overindulgence. It's actually better to allow a treat in place of a snack than it is to set the expectation that sweets are part of every meal.

Now, help your child slow down the meal. While younger toddlers will have difficulty manipulating utensils they will probably enjoy trying to use them. You can also slow down eating by making juice, and frozen yogurt ice pops.

However, always supervise your child when they eat and only give foods that aren't choking hazards. For instance, many store bought fruit pops have chunks of fruit that toddlers may swallow whole.

Last, make sure your toddler is well rested before you get them moving.

Many parents believe in tiring the child out before a nap, but overtired children get cranky, so it makes sense that running around the park with energy after a nap will be more beneficial in burning extra calories.

The biggest point in weight control for toddlers is that the idea is not to diet and exercise to lose weight like an adult does, the main point is to replace unhealthy habits with good for you nutritional and fitness practices that will empower them for life.

Learn more about this author, Sangay Glass.
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