As a teacher,I make sure that my students eat  nutritious food during their snack time. But it’s just sad to know that some of the parents doesn’t like this. They easily gave up the idea of their kids eating health foods because they themselves don’t do it. Eating the right foods at an early age will give you the assurance that the brains and muscles of your kids will function properly. Here are the following suggestions so that you and your child will enjoy your nutritious meal.

1. Search the net. There’s a lot of nutritious recipe that you can make with your child. Make it fun and creative. Make sure that your food looks scrumptious or else expect a child running around your house shouting “MOMMY I DON”T LIKE OUR FOOD IT LOOKS EEKY”

2. Have a vegetable day. It can be twice a week or more. Don’t abruptly change your normal menu because even you might lose your appetite if it’s done in this way. You need the support of your partner on this matter because if either one of you don’t like this idea, expect that your child will do the same thing.

3.  Give small prizes for your little one. Don’t be too harsh with him if he doesn’t eat the vegetable that has been prepared. Try sitting down with him and eat at the same time. Give generous affirmations so that he’ll know that he’s doing the right thing. Giving small gifts will encourage him to eat more nutritious food. Or you can try to make a vegetable chart that if he completes it, he’ll get an ice cream for the day.

Teaching your little ones to brush their teeth is a challenge. Sometimes they would love the idea to brush their teeth because of the scary tooth story you just shared to them. But the real challenge is how to motivate your child to brush her teeth even without the scolding part.

Brushing can be fun if we put our creative side in it. The following suggestions worked for other children I know.

1. Buy colorful toothbrush and cup- preferable something that your child chose for himself. Sometimes they get motivated on this because it’s “their” stuff and they love it.

2. Prepare prizes. This will not be an everyday process. But give your child a little boost by giving a prize once a month. Tell him that he did a good job in cleaning his teeth, and that he deserves a goody bag!

3. Brush together. It’s much more fun to brush teeth with someone. With this, you can actually teach your kid the proper way of brushing his teeth. Do the up down process and avoid getting mad during the process if he doesn’t do it your way. Give him time to adjust.

4. Visit the dentist regularly but do this in a fun way. Treat him somewhere after doing this. Let him enjoy his dentist day. Never make the dentist as the horror teeth doctor. You have to make it to a point that your kid, will love his dentist, because he’s the one who’s taking good care of his precious teeth.

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A friend of mine is having a dilemma with her toddler. The kid has developed this habit of grinding her teeth and it has reached a point of annoyance for the mother.

I wasn’t sure if this is normal for toddlers as none of my kids went through this phase. So, I asked a dentist friend of mine about it and she told my friend there is no cause for worry.

There may be valid reasons why the child has been grinding her teeth. Her choppers may be growing and she is getting used to it. Growing tooth is a nasty feeling as many parents realize so the grinding may be a way of comfort for the child.

But it may also indicate problems with her health, such as ring worm or pin worms. If you suspect this to be the case, then parents must address this and get the child de-wormed.

Otherwise, it may really just be a phase and the child may soon out grow this. In any event that it does get annoying, you can actually do something so that the habit will stop. You can give the child something to gnaw at instead of her teeth. Have crackers on hand or give her a crunchy snack once in a while. Engage in oral activities such as singing, so that she can be busy with her mouth with other stuff.

Or you can just simply ignore it. Usually, kids do more of the things that annoy you if you take notice. Ignoring, after you’ve rule out all of the other causes, will probably be the answer to your dilemma.

Like most parents, I’m guilty of feeding my kids food from McDonald’s or KFC or any other similar fast-food joints. It’s because, as its goes, the food is served fast. And for busy parents, that’s the kind of luxury we don’t have — the ability to prepare meals quickly, daily and regularly. If I have to count, I think I feed the kids fast food three times in a week. Which, by healthy standards is actually really bad.

However, not everything in fast food is evil. I believe it so. It all boils down to which ones you can cut or do away with, and which ones you can allow your kids to enjoy from time to time.

For instance, I don’t buy sodas with my children’s fast food meal. My kids have never developed a liking for these, as a result, which bodes well for me and bodes well for their health. Instead, my kids drink water when they are eating their favorite fried chicken from KFC.

I also avoid getting any supersized portions, especially for my children who are fine with regular servings. I don’t deprive them of enjoying these food fanfare but at the same time, never give them too much.

We do away with dressings and other mayo filled stuff, if it’s not necessarily going to affect the overall quality of the dish we are eating. This add so much more calories to the meal, when the food itself is already very rich in salt and other synthetic flavoring.

Halloween is a fun time, and while kids get to stay up late and get free candy- parents and pediatric dentists may be concerned by the amount of sweets that are customary for the season. Health and good oral hygiene habits may not be a concern for your child, but it is a first like of defense for your body. Good oral hygiene can help to keep the rest of the body healthy as well, and preventing cavities is an important step.

"While I’d love to suggest that parents toss the Halloween candy and give their kids a different sort of treat, I know as well as anyone that it’s not even a remote possibility," said Dr. Scoma. "Halloween is one of my kids’ favorite holidays and the collection of ridiculous amounts of candy is probably the best part. So, we try to use our common sense and stress moderation in enjoying what they’ve collected."

Dr. Scoma encourages parents to inspect all candy collected by their children and discard any treats that look suspicious or appear to be tampered with or opened. Stickier candy, like gummy bears, taffy and caramels get stuck on and between teeth, making them harder to brush away and more likely to cause decay. Hard candies that stay in your child’s mouth for a long period of time subject teeth to an increased risk for tooth decay. If possible, these should also be eliminated from the candy stockpiles or strictly limited.

Read more: SF Gate

Keeping kids healthy this Halloween is a treat that we all can look forward to.