As heatwaves and high temperatures are just around the corner, it is vital to enrich your children's diet with summer fruits and juices to protect their bodies and to introduce them to the principles of proper nutrition.
Even if your little ones run away when it is time for them to eat some fruit, imagination and fun can provide the solution!
In summer, you can eat your meals on the balcony
As you eat inside the house all winter long, now you have a chance to change your eating habits and to set the table on the balcony or in the back yard. This change of setting will create a pleasing environment for your child and will make him/her more enthusiastic about meal times.
You can use your imagination to decorate the table using items that are reminiscent of summer such as stones and shells, or you can introduce summer colours with brightly-coloured napkins and table cloths.
Water and juices
The sooner you teach your child to drink large amounts of liquids, especially water, the better! Sudden increases in temperature can easily dehydrate the body and it is worth keeping in mind that children may not ask for enough fluids and therefore can be considered vulnerable.
One trick that always works is to give your child water or juice in his/her favourite glass or to serve it with a straw. For some unknown reason children love to drink through straws - and to play games with them.
You can even cut a melon or a watermelon in half, take out the flesh, and make it into a cup. Put some juice from various fruits in the “cup”, add lots of thick straws and all the family can enjoy a fresh drink!
Fruit Jelly with pieces of fruit: the cool summer dessert.
You and your children can spend some time together making a quick and easy dessert which is perfect for the summer - refreshing and light fruit jelly! Your children are bound to be on tenterhooks waiting to try out the sweet, especially if they helped you to make it!
One... tasty idea is to add pieces of your favourite fruit to the jelly. This particular sweet is a good way of making sure your children learn to enjoy other sweets as well as ice cream in the summer, and it is a perfect way to “camouflage” their fruit so they enjoy eating it!
Summer fruit salad and how to get your kids to love eating it.
Would you believe your ears if your children kept on asking you if they could have fruit salad? But it can happen - all you need is the right tools and some imagination. Buy some pastry cutters with cute designs (butterflies, stars, hearts, etc.) and use them to make the most original fruit salad. Bits of fruit cut into shapes are perfect for kids’ parties in the summertime!
