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Nutrition and the School Age Child

© Stephanie Hembree

In comparison to the pre-school child, growth of the school-age child tends to be more stable. They call these the middle years from 5-9 years of age. In general, there are fewer apparent feeding problems compared to the preschool or the adolescent child. These children usually eat four to five times a day and can begin preparing their own food. Now is time to relax and get ready for the teen years, but now is also the time to make sure your child is getting great nutrition to prepare for the teen years.

While growth rate has slowed, there is still a lot going on in your child's body. They are learning to make and keep friends, loosing their baby teeth, developing coordination, as well as learning to read and to reflect. You need to make sure that they are getting the right nutrients to accomplish all these major tasks. A healthy diet is important in providing the proper nutrients for normal growth as well as setting up a pattern to fall back on when the rest of their life goes crazy during puberty.

When working with kids, it is important to remember that they are not just small adults and that laughing is better than crying. Kids of this age love to be in control and they love to get their hands dirty. Things that seem like a chore to you, like grating cheese can be quite fun for them. The first thing you need to do is to set an example of good eating; they learn more from watching than from listening and they are watching all the time. Make sure your diet is the best it can before you start judging theirs.

Once all this is in place, have fun and let them have control. Let them research what they need to make their diet healthy. The Food Guide Pyramid is a good place to start. Help them determine how many servings they need and how to plan their day so they get them all in. Let them understand that if they fill up on soda and candy, then there is no room left over for what they really need. Help them learn balance and moderation. Let them make choices and control their diet, you will be there if it gets out of control, to gently bring them back. Let them help you plan the meals, go to the grocery store and help with the meal preparation. And let them help with the clean up. This may take more time in the beginning but you would be surprised how much help they can be. Make sure that they follow good hygiene practices for food safety. Make sure they wash their hands. This is a time for them to experiment and find out what a good diet is. You will have more success than controlling everything. They need to practice and find out what works for them.