What children say about school lunch time

Hands up all parents of primary-school children who have that conversation on a near-daily basis as the once-fresh contents of lunch boxes are dumped in the bin, yet again.

Toddler nutrition: 5 tips for healthier kids

Here are five suggestions:

1. Encourage toddlers to eat fruits and vegetables as snacks by cutting them up into appealing morsels.
2. Don’t assume all prepackaged toddler meals or snacks are low in sodium. Check the nutrition facts label and strive for 210 milligrams of sodium or less per meal (and no more than 250 milligrams per meal) for a toddler, says nutritionist Lianne Phillipson-Webb of Sprout Right in Toronto.
3. Children under age four consuming 1,200 to 1,400 calories per day on average should limit added sugars to about four teaspoons a day, the American Heart Association recommends.
4. Look for whole rather than refined grains.
5. Instead of relying on boxed crackers or bread sticks for snacks, add fruit or melted cheese to plain rice cakes, popcorn or a batch of homemade pancakes.

src: cbc.ca

Enforcing Kids’ Screen Time Limits “Virtually Impossible”

Most parents struggle to limit their children’s screen time to less than two hours a day, study says. A world-first longitudinal study by The University of Western Australia (UWA) researchers examining the links between mental health and screen use by children and teenagers has found that guidelines to limit screen-based media-use to less than two hours a day are out of date and ‘virtually impossible' to enforce.