Nutrition

Your whole family can follow the diet outlined in Canada's Food Guide to Healthy Eating. Offer nutritious foods as well-planned, pleasant meals and snacks. Then sit back and let your child decide how much to eat (or even if he or she wants to eat at all). This is a good division of responsibility that allows children to tune in to their own appetite and takes the pressure off the parents.

Imagine yourself eating at a giant's table. That's how a child can feel eating at an adult-sized table in an adult-sized chair.

• Provide a booster seat and child-sized utensils. However, fingers are fine until a child can hold utensils easily.

• Give children smaller plates and smaller servings (15 ml or 1 tbsp per year of age is a good serving size guide). If the child is hungry for seconds, he or she will ask for them.

Young children have small stomachs and high energy needs, so they need frequent snacks to supplement meals. Plan between-meal snacks as part of the day's total food intake. Snacks should provide good nutrition, not just empty calories.

• Fruits and fruit juices are good snacks. Other good choices are raw vegetable sticks with fat-free dressing, cereal, yogurt, cheese, or soup.

• Serve meals and snacks on a regular schedule. Do not serve snacks so close to a meal that they interfere with the child's appetite.

• Choose desserts that are low in fat and high in nutrients. Fruit, yogurt, and other foods found in Canada's Food Guide are good choices.

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