Making sure our kids’ follow a balanced diet can be challenging, especially when they’re little. But the best way we’ve found for doing so is following the 80/20 principle.

Sure, you may have heard this principle in business, management & organization before, but have you ever considered it when it comes to eating?

It simply means this: we’re going to make sure our kids are eating well 80% of the time so we don’t have to worry about the 20% of the time we can’t control.

As much as we recognize the power of healthy eating, we still want our kids to be able to enjoy the occasional birthday cake, pizza party, goldfish crackers at church, etc.

Now if they were eating junk food all the time, that would just be adding insult to injury. But if we’re making sure they’re eating as many colors of the rainbow as possible at each meal, then we don’t stress out when the occasional bump in the dietary journey shows up.

Now that doesn’t mean that the rest of the healthy eating road is an easy one…

We’ve tried it all as our kids have grown up to get them to eat healthy:
*Assigning super-powers to vegetables
*Pureeing fruit & vegetables to secretly add them to other foods
*Serving a healthy “appetizer” that must be finished before the rest of the meal is served.

Amidst it all, we’ve learned two things that remain consistent:
1. Kids change and so do their taste-buds; even if they don’t like a healthy food the first time, keep trying! Introduce it in a different way at a different meal (remember, studies show that kids often need 10 exposures to a food before they’ll accept it!)

2. The best way to get your kids to eat healthy (or take any action, for that matter) is for their parents to model the desired behavior. If they see you eating well, they’re more likely to follow (and vice versa!). Take stock of what you’re eating and make sure you’re practicing what you preach!

While you don’t want to hold it over your family that many kids around the world don’t even have food to eat, you’ll be happy to know that right now you can actually make a difference with the Get A Smile Give A Smile contest from Tyson Nuggets.

Did you know Tyson has 100% All Natural Chicken Nuggets? Now you don’t have to choose between making your kids happy with convenient foods and feeding them balanced meals.

But I’m curious, how do you ensure your child maintains a balanced diet? By joining the conversation, you and your family will have the chance to make a tangible difference in the healthy eating habits of others. That’s right, Tyson will select someone from all who participate and donate $500 in the winner’s name to a local food bank!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Tyson Nuggets. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Sweepstakes Rules.