Nutrition for school children

Growing children need plenty of energy from their diets. Meals and snacks must be nutrient-dense because school children have high nutritional needs, but quite small appetites. Variety is also important.

At school age, they have more freedom over their food choices and they eat away from home more often. Peer pressure and advertising start to influence dietary choices and their behaviour sets a foundation for future health.

Encourage your child to be as active as possible and base their meals and snacks on the food groups, with limited high-fat and high-sugar snacks. Even if your child is overweight, they still need a nutrient-packed diet providing essential building blocks for growth and development.

Children should be given the opportunity to choose an item from each food group and they need to learn to make the healthy choices instead of having chips and sweets every day.

Teach your child to choose the following at lunch and supper:

These foods include butter, margarine, cooking oils, sugar, biscuits, cakes, crisps, sweets, chocolate, cream and ice-cream and sugary drinks.

These foods shouldn't be eaten too often and when they are, they should only be eaten in small amounts. They should only be offered at the end of a meal rather than in between. They are very high in kilojoules, fat and sugar and they dont provide many vitamins or minerals. Sugary foods and drinks (including fruit juice) can also contribute to tooth decay. Milk and water are better drinks between meals.

(Rework from Discovery)