MyPyramid for Preschoolers

Edith Clogg
Dietetic Intern
University of Maryland, College Park

MyPyramid for Preschoolers was unveiled in October 2008 by the USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. This Web site is another MyPyramid resource geared towards a specific audience.  It is intended to help parents and caregivers make better food choices for preschool children, aged 2 to 5 years — a critical time when food habits and taste preferences are established.  Developed in addition to MyPyramid, MyPyramid for Pregnancy and Breastfeeding, and MyPyramid for Kids, it is a comprehensive how-to guide on children’s nutrition.

Visitors to the My Pyramid for Preschoolers Web site can enter the child's first name, age, gender, and typical amount of daily activity. The site then generates a tailored plan for that specific child. The information on the Web site is detailed and concrete, with growth charts from the Centers for Disease Control, kid-friendly meal and snack ideas, and food safety guidelines for this younger age bracket.

Several real-life strategies are provided to help parents introduce new foods to preschoolers — whose notorious picky eating habits can frustrate parents and caregivers. Tips are included for encouraging children to eat a variety of vegetables, including seeing the caregiver eating and enjoying them too.  The benefits of eating together as a family is a major focus of the initiative and ideas are offered to make family mealtime more enjoyable and less stressful, including recipes for quick, nutritious and economical meals. Sample substitutions are provided to help preschoolers eat less fat and added sugars.

Perhaps most compelling is a section that focuses on nine ways to help form healthy habits for life, including offering a variety of foods, following a meal and snack schedule, and making mealtime fun.  Tips on how to talk to preschoolers about food and a clever section titled "Phrases that Help and Hinder" can help reframe food discussions to be more positive. For example, instead of enforcing a clean plate rule, sample words are provided to help your child recognize when he or she is full. There is a strong physical activity component to the site, stressing the importance of activity and age-appropriate indoor and outdoor activities.

Parents, educators, and practitioners will find this site useful, as it provides a tool for interactivity. Printing the child’s CDC Growth Chart may start discussion with a pediatrician.  Parents that feel like they are in a rut or are unsure how to slowly make changes to their home eating environment can find practical tools and snack ideas to get their child interested in food.  Health practitioners including doctors, nurses, physician’s assistants, dietitians, social workers, and other health and wellness professionals will find this to be a very useful as a tool.