Tips For Children To Eat Nutritious Foods At Home

JAKARTA - Taking advantage of children to like nutritious food can be a challenge for parents. One of the effective approaches is to make eating time a fun and educational moment.

Involve children in choosing menus, invite them to help prepare food, and set an example directly by eating healthy foods together. In addition, visually attractive food presentations can also increase children's interest in trying various types of healthy foods, including vegetables and fruit.

A nutritionist from the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (RSCM) Jakarta, Fitri Hudayani, suggested that parents can imitate the healthy and balanced diets commonly applied in schools.

This is in line with the implementation of the Free Nutrition Food Program (MBG) from the government which has now begun to be run in various schools as a form of nutrition education from an early age.

According to Fitri, the provision of healthy food in schools not only provides daily nutritional intake, but is also an effective learning tool for children. They will get used to recognizing and remembering the types of nutritious food and the ideal portion to consume every day.

"The nutritious food program provided in schools can be a concrete example and good educational facilities, where children learn to recognize healthy food and adopt it in their daily lives," Fitri said when contacted in Jakarta, as quoted by ANTARA.

He also emphasized the importance of the role of parents, especially mothers, in strengthening this habit at home. One way is to adopt the composition of the school menu into the family daily menu.

For example, in addition to serving rice as a source of carbohydrates, it also adds animal side dishes, vegetable side dishes, vegetables, fruits, and water as a complement.

Furthermore, Fitri provides several examples of healthy menus that are easy to make at home. For animal side dishes, parents can present variations such as chicken opor, yellow spice fish, or tomato spice eggs.

As for vegetable side dishes, tofu, tempeh bacem, or red beans perkedel can be an option. While vegetables can be adjusted to the availability of children's ingredients and tastes, and balanced with regular consumption of fruit.

"Combining foods with diverse ingredients can help meet the nutritional needs of children. What is important is consistency and creativity in serving it," added Fitri.