It is estimated that by the time a child has reached puberty, she will have seen about 100,000 food commercials on television alone, approximately 90% of them for items high in fat, cholesterol, or sodium. No wonder the shelves of supermarkets are stocked full of popular foodstuffs, such as cereals, that are so loaded with sugar that they should rightfully be placed in the candy aisle.

How can we combat the millions of dollars spent on sophisticated ad campaigns targeted specifically at our children? One thing we can do is spend time with our children on “their turf.” This allows parents to experience various phenomena, including advertisements, with them. Parents can explain, on a level at which their child is capable, the psychology behind advertising. They can equip their children to see though the persuasive attempts to sell a product via celebrity or some appealing situational scene that has nothing to do with the quality of the product. In essence, parents can teach how to separate and evaluate the meaningful information from the “hype.”

To carry this one step further, couple healthy eating with fun activities and events. Pack a healthy, tasty lunch to eat on picnics and hikes, have juice and low-fat flavored yogurt as a snack when your child works up an appetite from playing with friends, or create pictures on his plate with the many different shapes and sizes of foods. This is “fighting fire with fire” - using the same basic psychological principles that advertisers use but, in this instance, to develop a positive association with healthy foods.

As parents we have first crack at influencing our children and need to take advantage of it, because it won’t last long. Before we realize it, our children will be spending time away from home and subject to many new influences. When this occurs, we want them to have a good knowledge base from which to make important lifestyle decisions.

Speaking about outcomes important to our children, not us, will give us a much better chance at success. For example, teaching how nutritious choices not only lead to good health, but enhance appearance, energy, and physical performance, will help assure that our children listen to and retain what we impart. They will then be more likely to make better choices after our influence wanes.

Establishing an environment that encourages healthy lifestyles and provides the opportunity to manifest them is important. Our teachings about nutrition will be to no avail if we make chips, sodas, candy, etc. readily available for snacks, while keeping fruits and vegetables hidden away in the bottom of the refrigerator. Regularly frequenting fast food establishments and purchasing cheeseburgers, french fries, and sodas after extolling the virtues of healthy, low-fat eating gives mixed messages that negate our efforts and confuse our children. Probably the biggest threat to our nutrition nurturing is our own actions. A major learning modality of children is imitation. Being the most significant figures in our children’s lives, we are the role models whose lifestyles are most emulated by them. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to “practice what we preach.”

Entering school is the first major step toward increased independence for children. They will now begin spending more time away from home, and be subjected to many new influences. The school environment imposes a major influence in the child’s life. Unfortunately, the school’s influence is often not what we might desire in regard to healthy eating. While on the one hand teaching nutrition and health in the classroom, many schools create an environment that is the antithesis of these teachings. Vending machines flourish in the hallways, usually offering very little in the way of healthy choices. Soda machines are ubiquitous, while juice machines are nowhere to be found. This means that children couldn’t choose healthy snacks even if they wanted to do so (and believe it or not, many want to).

School food service is commonly supported by funds raised from sales. Therefore, cafeterias offer items they know will be good sellers such as cheeseburgers, french fries, and pizza. Some school cafeterias have an alternate choice or a salad line, but frequently there is little effort to make these very appetizing or even healthy.

Fund raising has become synonymous with candy. Check out educational and PTA conferences that invite exhibitors, and you’ll see that many are candy wholesalers. To raise money, schools regularly promote the sales of candy to the public by students. This has been such a longstanding tradition among schools universally that it had been rarely questioned. Recently, though, many parents, teachers, and health professionals have begun to wonder why healthy alternatives cannot be used for this purpose.

Major supermarkets are usually amenable to establishing a relationship with schools whereby educational tours can be conducted, and produce can be purchased at greatly discounted prices for special promotions. Doing this would show children that schools “really mean what they say” in nutrition and health classes.