A fellow mom friend of mine, Julia Shelton of My Blue Canoe blog, shared a way she encourages her children to choose healthy snacks. It's what she calls their "snacking tray." She fills it up with a colorful variety of healthy snacks and her children make the choice of what they would like to have each time. All the choices are pre-prepared in advance for ease of execution, appropriately portioned out and all of them are nutrient-rich that help maximize their nutrition with each choice. What's also great about this idea is that it empowers children to make their own choice, which is really the key for your child's lifetime nutrition status.  Put your snacking tray in an easily-accessible place in your refrigerator so your kids can just grab and enjoy.

I absolutely love grassroots ideas like this one, mostly because they have been formulated in the homes of real-life families.  Let's continue to share with each other so we can invest in the health of all families by doing just that.  If you would like to share creative ways you encourage healthy eating and snacking in your own home, I would love to hear about them!

Julia Shelton is a wife, mother of two precious girls.  On her My Blue Canoe blog, she shares her family adventures and tries to focus on the beauty we happen upon in this journey of mindful mothering, intentional living, and plain 'ole having fun.