Eat at Least 5 Fruits and Vegetables Every Day

Fruits and vegetables help kids grow and fight off illness and can prevent weight gain, so encourage your children to eat at least five servings each day.

As a parent, your job is to offer opportunities for your children to make good food choices, not to try to force children to eat these foods. According to child feeding expert and author Ellyn Satter’s Division of Responsibility in Feeding, as a parent it’s your role to decide:

• What food is offered
• When food is offered
• Where food is offered

It’s your child’s job to decide:

• If he or she will eat or not
• What he or she will eat from what’s offered
• How much he or she will eat

Fresh produce is best, but frozen is also a good choice. If you’re using canned fruits and vegetables, watch for sodium and added sugar. Don’t offer much juice, which is high in sugar and low in fiber.

Additional Resources

• Lunchbox Tips
• Daily Food Recommendations and Tips
• Farmers Markets and CSAs
• We Can! Tips to Eat Right

Keep Recreational Screen Time to 2 Hours or Less Every Day

Using screen time for homework is fine, but make sure to limit the time your children recreationally watch television, play video games or surf the web to no more than two hours per day. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends zero screen time for children age 2 or younger.

Why should you limit screen time?

• Children need to be active.
• When engaged in screen time children are more likely to eat unhealthy snacks.
• Too much screen time may lead to attention difficulties.
• The content is often inappropriate (violence/sexual/language).
• Children are vulnerable to the influence of commercial advertising.

Tips to reduce screen time:

• Keep TVs, computers and video games out of children’s bedrooms.
• Turn electronic devices off during meals.
• Keep homework time TV-free.
• Set a screen time schedule – plan viewing in advance.
• Be a role model – show your children you too can limit screen time.
• Keep family-friendly board games handy.
• Use an automatic timer to turn off power to TV.

Alternative activities:

• Go for a walk or bike ride.
• Dance to favorite music.
• Plant a garden.
• Play ball: basketball, baseball, soccer or tennis.
• Have children help prepare healthy family meals.
• Play charades.

Additional Resources

• How and Why to Reduce Screen Time

Include at Least 1 Hour or More of Active Play Every Day

Active play is fun and important for your child’s health, and active kids will likely become active adults. Start adding physical activity to your own daily routine and encourage your children to join you. Remember: children imitate adults.

Physical activity:

• Helps to maintain healthy body weight.
• Increases strength and improves coordination.
• Reduces stress and risk of developing chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes.

How to help your kids achieve 60 minutes of exercise a day:

• Be a good role model – Show your kids that you live an active lifestyle, and ask them to come with you when you go swimming, walking or do any other physical activity that’s age-appropriate for them.
• Be active as a family – Make exercise a family habit. Instead of watching television after dinner, try to take a walk, toss a ball around or go for a bike ride. Encourage your child to do something active during their free time.
• Safety is key – Find a place where you child can safely engage in physical activity. This may be in your neighborhood or at a youth organization.
• Encourage your child to explore different sports – Different sports allow your child to work different muscle groups, which is best for overall health. Participating in the same sport all year could potentially lead to overuse injuries, especially among teenagers.
• Find the right program – Deciding to enroll your child in a sports program is a good first step in creating a healthier family. Talk to other parents to find out what programs their kids enjoy. Try to look for a community program that encourages participation instead of winning. The level of fun a child has while participating is an indicator of a program’s strength.
• Support your child – Get involved by attending their games, coaching their teams or simply showing encouragement when they exercise.
• Don’t make everything about winning – If you pressure your child to win, it’s likely he or she will lose enjoyment from the sport.

Any physical activity that’s developmentally and age appropriate, safe and enjoyed by your child is a good option. The goal is to not push your child towards a single type of exercise, but rather to encourage participation in and enjoyment of physical activity in general.

Additional Resources

• We Can! Tips for Getting Active (includes a helpful tracking sheet)
• CDC, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity
• KidsHealth
• Mountain View City Recreation Guide
• BAM! Body and Mind Activity Cards

Skip Sugar Sweetened Beverages; Drink Water Instead

Why avoid sugary beverages?

• Soda, sports drinks, chocolate milk and juice add lots of empty calories, which can make it difficult to maintain a healthy body weight.
• Sugary drinks lead to tooth decay and can end up replacing milk in children’s diets.
• Drinking sugary beverages may lead to increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

What can you do?

• Set a healthy example. Let your children see that you can be sugar free.
• Read the label before you buy a beverage.

Take a look at how much sugar is in some popular children’s drinks:

Additional Resources

• Bay Area Nutrition and Physical Activity Cooperative
• Contra Costa Child Care Council (Coco Kids)