Promoting Healthy Eating Habits in Preschool Children

Preschool children are not "little adults" that simply require less amounts of the same foods as adults. For instance, according to Wittman (2013), young people aged 3 and 4 years are typically called preschoolers and have special nutritional needs that must be satisfied in order to ensure proper development. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's "Choose My Plate" recommendations for 3- and 4-year-old children for various food groups are set forth in Table 1 below.

Recommended Daily Servings for 3- and 4-Year-old Children

3-Year-old Children

4-Year-old Children

Fruits

cup of fruits

to 1-1/2 cups of fruit

Vegetables

cup of vegetables

1-1/2 cups of vegetables

Grains

ounce equivalents of grains

ounce equivalents of grains

Protein

ounce equivalents of protein

ounce equivalents of protein

Dairy

cups of dairy

2-1/2 cups of dairy

Oils

teaspoons

teaspoons

Source: Adapted from Wittman, 2013

Studies have confirmed that preschool children from low-income families suffer more nutritional deficiencies compared to their counterparts from middle-class families (Doong & Shariff, 2008). Moreover, preschool children from low-income families also have a higher prevalence of obesity compared to their middle-class counterparts, which has been attributed to higher consumption levels of high-fat content foods such as fast and junk foods (Doong & Shariff, 2008). A number of health conditions related to obesity that were once believed applicable to adults only have recently been seen in children with increasing frequency, including hypertension, early signs of hardening of the arteries, type 2 diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, disordered breathing during sleep and polycystic ovary disorder (Daniels, 2006).

Parents typically try to promote healthy eating habits among preschoolers by providing them with the recommended portions of vegetables and fruit each day and ensuring they eat breakfast (Cariun, Taut & Baban, 2012). In fact, research indicates that poor eating habits such as consuming too many sweets or skipping breakfast typically begin during the transition period between childhood and adolescence (Cariun et al., 2012). Most preschoolers (60%) consume too much fat in their diets, and only about a third (34% of boys and 33% of girls) consume the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables each day (Cariun et al., 2012). Nearly a quarter (24%) of young people eat too many high-fat, low-nutritional value foods, particularly fried foods, candy, soft drinks and cookies (Cariun et al., 2012).