Nutrition influences not only students' grades at school but their growth and development. Improper nutrition is one of the causes of childhood obesity. What can you do to help your child avoid childhood obesity? My first piece of advice is to look in your fridge. What are you buying at the grocery store? Think about it: if you don't buy junk food or snacks, your kids won't eat them at home. Now if you're like me -- both of your kids are at school, you'll know you can't police them every second of the day. This is the time when you'll need to talk to your children about their food choices. If you don't know the right food choices, there are so many free resources on-line to guide you. Try new things. I was very surprised to find out my 4-year-old daughter likes balsamic vinegar -- she calls it the "black sauce". She likes to have it with tomatoes and cucumbers. You just never know what your kids might like. Don't get stressed if you can't always prepare something healthy. You may sometimes leave the house and forget to take something out for dinner, or you are running late and there's no time to cook before you have to take one of the kids somewhere. However, you can still make healthy choices while dining out. Many of the fast food restaurants offer fruit and milk instead of soda. I like to buy organic frozen pizzas from the organic market -- for a quick dinner solution . All the ingredients are natural. What I do is to serve the pizza with something raw: lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, or fruit to try to give the kids something healthy with that meal. In closing, take baby steps. Don't try to change your family's eating habits in one go, or you'll go nuts. The writer believes it is very important for parents to  _
make sure their fridge is full of food. teach their children how to eat healthily check their children's grades at school provide their children with their favorite food