ASK the dentist
In the first of a series of articles on getting children to eat more healthily, dentist Lucy Stock of Gentle Dental Care in Belfast says start off by looking at your family's diet
WE ALL know that children should eat their greens and not crave sweets but how do we as parents get Little Jonny to say "Can I have a bowl of spinach, please?" and not whine for a bag of sweets?
There's so much in the media these days about childhood obesity and healthy eating.
Since the eating habits which lead to being overweight are directly related to tooth decay, over the next few weeks we are going to look at strategies that will empower parents to help their children follow a tooth healthy eating plan.
The starting point is to have a really honest look at what your family are eating, how frequently they are eating and the condition of their teeth.
This in itself is a difficult task as comparing your family's diet to friends' families is often not appropriate as their diets may be unsatisfactory as well.
As a general rule of thumb, if your child is eating sugary foods or drinking sweet drinks every day then this is too much for teeth to cope with.
If your child has even just one decayed tooth then the child's diet needs to be considered and adjusted.
Often a child's teeth can look OK to a parent but when the trained eye of a dentist examines them, they can see the decay beneath the surface of the tooth. So it's important to take your child to the dentist to get a proper check-up so that any issues can be flagged up.
Children are most influenced by where they spend majority of their time. Family attitudes and values often stay with people for the rest of their lives. By recognising this we can understand how important it is to give well-thought-out messages as early as possible which will get children into good eating habits.
This can underpin a lifetime of healthy eating and give children the gift of comfortable teeth that when taken care of can last a lifetime.
Parents can try thinking about their childhood diet, current eating habits and what condition their teeth are in now. By weighing up what was beneficial and what needs improved on, we can avoid poor eating habits being passed on. n Next week we will look at the different styles of parenting and how they affect meal times and eating habits.