By Samantha Sinoff
I have two full-time jobs. Nine months out of the year, I’m a health educator in a nursery through 12th grade school, and every day of the year, I’m a mom of two amazing kids. Unsurprisingly, these roles often overlap, and the lessons I teach my students will pop up during my year-round mom life. One thing I spend a lot of time teaching my students about is the basics of healthy eating, something I also find myself doing a lot at home with my own children.
I like to think in food groups–dairy, protein, fruit, vegetables, and grains. But one thing I’ve learned is not to force that framework on young kids. At home, we treat food as fuel and think more about balance than checking boxes. The challenge, and the joy, is modeling healthy behavior for both my students and my kids. That’s a lot easier said than done, especially when toddlers are involved.
If you’re looking for new ways to encourage your kids to eat to fuel their bodies in a healthy way this school year, here are a few things that are working for us. Bonus: You can read more about the nutritionist-approved balanced plate method here.
Consistent and simple breakfasts
My morning goal is to get a variation of two to three food groups covered for my three-year-old before she’s out the door. For the last two years, she has requested yogurt every morning. I let her choose what kind she wants, and I can rest easy knowing she has already had a healthy serving of protein first thing in the morning. Then, we’ll pair it with an extra, like oatmeal, fruit, or the occasional frozen waffle.
I also make sure she knows enjoying something special is very okay and encouraged. On Sunday mornings, we make pancakes, waffles, or French toast and eat together as a family. The key is allowing her to feel empowered to make her own food decisions, while encouraging her to eat balanced food for energy throughout the day. And, as a bonus, I can plan ahead knowing the framework of what she’ll eat throughout the week.
A little-bit-of-everything lunch
Lunchtime at our house and school lunches are far from gourmet. My go-to move is sending her to daycare with leftovers from dinner. If there are no dinner leftovers, I’ll put together a simple meal I know she’ll eat that starts with protein and carbs—maybe a simple sandwich, some crackers with chicken salad or tuna, or even scrambled eggs with a mini bagel.
I’ll always pair whatever is in her bag with a fruit and a vegetable, plus a few bonus snacks like chips or a granola bar. We stick to balanced foods we know she likes, so her lunchbox usually comes home empty, which feels like winning the food lottery. You can get more balanced and easy lunch ideas here.
Nutritious, kid-friendly snacks
I am a lifelong snacker. My bag is never without trail mix, a bar, or a rogue clementine. Unsurprisingly, my daughter is following in my footsteps. Which means she requests a snack approximately 100 times a day—even if we just finished eating, or quite honestly, while we’re in the middle of a meal. We like to encourage her to make her own snacking decisions, while keeping nutritious snacks available at all times. This way, even if she fills up between meals, she’s still fueling her body with something worthwhile.
To keep her full, fed, and healthy, we’ve created a toddler snacking set up at home. We keep a “kid-friendly” cabinet stocked with balanced go-tos: fruit and veggie snack pouches, granola bars, crackers, raisins, trail mix, and yogurt melts. My daughter can grab anything from there with a quick check-in from us, and it encourages her to make her own food decisions. We also keep the fridge stocked with hard-boiled eggs, string cheese, yogurt smoothies, vegetables, and fruit she can choose from.
We also keep a “grown-up” cabinet stocked, where we stash the more indulgent goodies: cookies, chocolate, and chips. Yes, we share. After all, it’s about balance. Get more balanced snack ideas here.
One-pot balanced dish for dinner
I grew up with the classic balanced dinner plate: protein, starch, and veggie. Since starting my own family, I’ve gravitated towards that system in my own cooking. But now, with two kids and a full-time job, one-pot meals are the norm. We mix all the food groups into one dish, so it’s balanced but feels more manageable, and repurpose leftovers as lunch for the next day. Some favorites include chicken stir fry with lots of veggies, shepherd’s pie, tacos with all the veggie-forward fix-ins, spaghetti and meat sauce that include some veggies blended into the sauce or chopped up tiny and mixed in, or lentil soup.
A positive eating environment
Beyond the food we choose to feed our kids, we also aim to make mealtime a calm and positive experience to encourage a healthy relationship with food and eating. We try to eat dinner as a family, though, that doesn’t always happen when life gets in the way. When there’s something new on the table, we encourage one “try-it bite” without pressure. We let our kids decide when they’re full and avoid using dessert as a bribe. Don’t get me wrong, we love desserts in our house, but it’s just not a part of our daily mealtime routine. Instead, we explain that food helps us grow strong and gives us energy to play, learn, and do all the fun things.
Overall, teaching healthy habits at school helps me reinforce these practices at home, and learning what works with my own kids helps me become a better educator for my students. What’s important is not getting hung up on what a kid eats during one meal, but looking at the overall day or week and ensuring they’ve put healthy fuel into their bodies. Our goal isn’t perfection—it’s progress. And at the end of the day, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with cereal or frozen chicken nuggets for dinner.
Samantha Sinoff is a Health Educator and a mom of two objectively adorable kids. She has been teaching youth about nutrition for over five years, and is finally putting her expertise into writing. She loves learning about food, cooking, and ordering takeout when parenthood is just a little overwhelming.
