Parents often endeavor to feed their children healthful foods. When the children are young, this task is often easy to accomplish because the parents are in control of what they serve the children. Then come the teen-age years! Teens have a lot more opportunities to choose what they eat because they are away from home more often due to sports, clubs, hobbies, friend get-togethers, and occasional overnight stays. When it comes right down to it, parents must rely on what they have already taught their children about nutrition and making good food choices to guide the child when they are not around. The four Ps can help: plan, place, practice, and presentation.

Personal Story

My teens and I had great times cooking for our family. Sometimes, everyone got to choose a meal to learn how to cook. Other times, baking was the theme- granola, muffins, cookies, deserts, etc. These times in the kitchen were a wonderful opportunities to learn cooking skills and enjoy the “fruits” of their labor.

Plan

Working together on a meal plan can help teens jump-start nutritious eating. Plan menus that contain each of the main nutritional components.

• Protein- Choose from chicken, beef, fish, eggs, nuts, or legumes.
• Carbohydrates-Mostly choose carbs in their natural state- vegetables, fruit, and whole grains.
• Fats- Choosing healthy, undamaged fats like avocados and olives, coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil provide brain food that teens need to be healthy.

Encourage your teens to take good food with them for snacks or meals when they are away from home. Provide lunch boxes with ice packs and stainless-steel water bottles to make it easy to transport.

Place

The places teens hang out influence their eating habits.

• Encourage your teens to have their friends over to your house.
• Stock your fridge and with plenty of healthy food, snacks, and treats.
• Supply recipes and ingredients for your teen to make. Cooking and baking together can be a great activity that develops life skills that will come in handy in the future.

When you provide a plan and a place, your teen can practice making good food choices.

Practice

When teens have an idea of what to eat, let them practice to making good food choices.

• Let your teen choose from several acceptable foods as you work together to create a weekly meal plan, snack, or treat.
• After a few weeks of practice, let the teen create a menu of their own, make a shopping list, and then shop together for the ingredients. Have fun cooking together. Eventually, let the teen do the whole process.

Praise the teen’s effort and the victories in making their own snacks, meals, or desserts.

Presentation

Let your teens be creative.

• No need for them to make the same sandwich for lunch day after day. There are so many variations they could make with basic ingredients.
• One pre-teen I cared for wanted to use her new thermos for her lunch. We talked about how we might create a hot sandwich. We spread a thin coating of coconut oil in a microwave mug. We cut a piece of bread in fourths. She spread each with butter. We put one piece of bread in the bottom of the mug. She tore up lunchmeat and put a layer on the bred. Then she put a sprinkle of cheese. She repeated that process, ending with the cheese. In the morning she microwaved the mug and slid the contents out into the pre-warmed thermos. She created a name for her creation- Sandwich Surprise. She loved the process and result. She talked about how she wanted to make it again but would tear everything and layer it like a parfait.

Let your teens learn by doing.

Action

Take your teen to new levels of knowledge as they plan, place, practice, and vary their food presentation of healthful foods.

May God bless your healthful endeavors!

Joni

P.S. Which of the 4 Ps have you done with your teen?