"child" news and stories

As the old adage goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. The same sentiment holds true for kids, who can be quite stubborn where food is concerned. At home, parents can monitor what their child is - and is not - eating to make sure they learn to make healthy choices. Now that the school year has started, however, ensuring that the kids get a healthy lunch can be harder.

One thing you can do is, as we have mentioned before, get your child involved in preparing the lunch. S/he can pick out the fruits and snacks that look the tastiest from the healthy foods you have available (aiming for fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein most of the time, of course). If it is hard to get your child going in the morning, however, you might not have time for this bonding activity. So, other tips include:

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A lot of people are uncomfortable eating meat that looks like part of an animal, so pre-packaged and process meats are popular. This lunch meat, however, must be one of more disturbing things to ever have been featured in the deli meat section of a grocery store. The problem isn't that it is 80% pork with coloring added to it, but that the coloring is added to make it look like a clown face. It is clearly intended to be appealing to children, it actually explains why some children are afraid of clowns. After all, if you discovered a face in your sandwich when you were in kindergarten, you would be traumatized, too. This meat might also be a factor in why some children become vegetarians.

At least soylent green didn't look like people.

[via Neatorama]

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A 13-year-old girl in the U.K. beat several grown men in a corn-on-the-cob eating contest this week, setting a British record in the process. Emily Cotterill consumed 26 ears of corn in 20 minutes, watching while "male opponents began vomiting and dropping out." Her parents seemed proud of their daughter's achievement, and her father even remarked that he considered entering the contest, but did not think he would stand a chance against Emily.

Emily said that she felt a little ill after the competition, but it soon passed. She also noted that she probably wouldn't be eating corn again anytime soon, but did not make a comment indicating whether or not she was interested in pursuing a career as a competitive eater in the future.

At least she was eating something relatively healthy, and not brats or hot dogs.

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Many experts say that it takes time for a child to accept a new food once it has been offered to them. The number of times you should offer a food varies according to who you ask. The most recent number seems to be 15 times, but once of the reasons to bring up new foods so often is to prevent the kids from getting into a rut with what they eat.

Pediatric nutritionist Jeanne Cox says that variety is important to make sure that kids are getting all of the nutrients that they need, even if the foods that they like are already healthy ones. New foods add flavor variety and change the vitamins and nutrients the children take in. If they are offered, and allowed to eat, the same foods every day, they may be less likely to try new foods in the future.

Cox tells parents that they should offer children, especially picky eaters, very balanced meals that include protein, starch, vegetables and/or fruits. Each element should be varied, serving potatoes, bread (whole grain, of course), pasta or rice for the starch, for example. Even if a child only eats the protein on one night and the starch on another, in the long run, the child will have eaten a relatively balanced diet and probably tried a few new foods, too - new foods that he or she might just want to eat again.

More about picky eaters:

• The "Cool factor" and picky eaters
• The science of picky eating

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Plastic bags are not going to be the most exciting part of your child's school lunch, no matter how you look at it. The bags from Mobi are a little more interesting, however. They all feature fun designs, from cupcakes to stars, that will brighten up a bag lunch and probably make whatever food is packed inside seem more fun. After all, who could resist a bag with a cupcake on it, even if it is filled with baby carrots instead of actual cupcakes? Sandwich and gallon-sized bags are available, all with a traditional zip top to keep the food secure.

Of course, if you want to get these are use them for your own lunch, we fully support that decision - just don't let your coworkers see them, or they may get jealous. They're available at Mobi and at Target.

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