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Square Meals
Do Kids Need Three Square Meals a Day?
By Donna Smith
Eating a well-balanced breakfast, lunch and dinner helps children reach their daily nutritional goals, but O'Shea says this may mean having three "square meals" or, for some children, three structured meals along with nutritious snacks throughout the day. "It's important to remember that children have small stomachs and therefore may not eat a large quantity of food at one time," she says. "They do have significant calorie needs, however, and that means they need snacks between meals and those snacks should be healthy and contribute to an overall healthy food intake for the day."
Snacks can be a positive part of your child's daily nutrition. "In fact, if your child is hungry all the time it is probably because growing children need a lot of calories, but are unable to eat enough at one meal to sustain them until the next mealtime," O'Shea says. "But make sure your children aren't snacking on foods that contain extra fat, calories sugar and salt. Instead, choose snacks that will help them meet daily requirements of vitamins, minerals, protein and fiber."
Prepackaged snacks line store shelves, but taking the time to prepare snacks from fresh ingredients is worth the effort. O'Shea recommends fresh fruit, yogurt "sundaes," whole-grain crackers, cut vegetables (as long as they are not for toddlers, as raw vegetables can be a choking hazard), fruit juice pops, low-fat cheese cubes, low-sugar cereals or peanut butter with crackers. "Overall, remember to offer things that you will feel good about your child eating – whether it's at meal or snack time," she says.
For Stephens, visibility is key. "I keep lots o healthy, prepared food visible to the entire family," she says. "Fresh fruit is washed and placed in a bowl on the bar. Grapes are picked, washed and placed in a see-through container in the front of the refrigerator along with yogurt cups, etc. In my home, we are most likely to pop in our mouth whatever is most accessible."
