We all like to stay warm in the winter, but did you know there’s more to it than just feeling comfortable?
Keeping our kids warm in the winter is important for their development, and as adults, you may be surprised to know we’re nicer people when we’re warm.
Let’s start with our kids. When your child is cold, the energy that she should be using to develop her brain, heart, lungs, liver, and other essential systems is being used to heat her body.
The most obvious effect of this energy reallocation can be seen on the immune system. While it’s true that being cold doesn’t cause colds, if the energy needed to protect and strengthen the immune system is instead given the task of keeping the body warm, the immune system becomes more susceptible to illness.
When children are warm, they’re also observed to be more restful, less distracted, and better able to settle into themselves and be comfortable in their environment.
Be careful not to judge your child’s warmth by how he feels to the touch.
Because of kids’ accelerated metabolic rate, your child’s skin may feel warm when he’s actually cold.
And while you certainly have to pick your battles, try to instill in your child a habit of wearing a coat. As parents, most of us have experienced the frustration of our kids wanting to be coat-free, and denying that they’re cold when that doesn’t seem humanly possible.
Keep in mind that especially at a younger age, kids aren’t in touch with their bodies and really don’t have a good sense of how cold their body is.
While keeping your child warm so her energies can be directed towards proper development is especially important for kids age seven and under, the positive effects of warmth continue into adulthood.
For example, in a 2008 study published in Science, participants were asked to hold either a warm or cold object, and were observed after holding the object. Researchers concluded that physical temperature affected not just how we perceive others, but also our own behavior.
According to the study, “Physical warmth can make us see others as warmer people, but also cause us to be warmer — more generous and trusting — as well.”
So how do we accomplish warmth when the entire world around us is anything but?
Dressing warm in layers, and providing physical warmth through hugs and positive nurturing should be part of the daily fall/winter routine, as well as providing warm “comfort food” for family meals, especially dinner.
We at Kids Party Characters know how challenging it can be to provide any meal that all the kids will eat. So today we want to share with you seven kid-friendly warm recipes that are easy to make, easy to modify for your taste, and will make for warm tummies on those cold winter nights.
1. Quick Chicken Casserole: This one gets lots of points for being quick in terms of preparation. You can cook the chicken in advance if needed.
It’s also flexible in that it allows you to use whatever vegetables you can get your kids to eat, and it’s easy to cut the vegetables up if necessary and hide them a little in the yummy sauce.
It does cook for 45 minutes, but of course that’s free time for you to be cleaning up the kitchen, hanging out with your child, or whatever else the evening calls for.
2. Pumpkin Bean Soup: We’ve talked about the nutrition benefits of pumpkin before, and you can use fresh or canned pumpkin in this recipe with the same tasty results.
You can also modify the vegetables to your liking, and make this a great vegetarian recipe simply by using vegetable stock rather than chicken broth.
3. Slow Cooker Mexican Quinoa Bake: Quinoa is a grain that’s packed with nutrition and is usually a kid favorite (or at least they don’t hate it!).
This is a vegetarian recipe, but is hearty enough that the meat eaters won’t notice.
It’s also easy to adjust the flavor to make it spicy, or not.
And, as the name states, it gets major points for being a crockpot recipe that doesn’t require any additional ingredient prep outside the crockpot. Simply pour everything in and top it off with the cheese in the end.
4. Turkey Chili: Another easy one that’s packed with flavor, and easy to “do your own thing” with to fit your family’s tastes.
It’s also nice when you get a late start because it only has to simmer for 20 minutes after you combine the ingredients. (Although you’ll love the enhanced flavor if you have a little more time).
While its name doesn’t seem to be vegetarian-friendly at all, it’s easy to use a meat substitute and vegetable broth instead of chicken broth if you have a divided crowd. Don’t even tell the die-hard meat eaters, they’ll never notice.
5. Slow Cooker Cheesy Tortellini: Score for another crockpot recipe, and this one’s not a soup.
It does call for ground beef, which you have to cook before combining all the ingredients in the crockpot, but you can always do that over the weekend, or whenever your easiest moments are.
You can also substitute ground turkey if you’re health-conscious, or leave the meat out all together to create a vegetarian dish that won’t taste like it’s missing anything.
6. Slow Cooker Chicken Corn Chowder: While you have the slow cooker out, here’s another one that pretty much defines “comfort food.”
The time-saving thing about this one is that you cook the chicken breasts whole in the crockpot and shred them with a fork after they’ve cooked.
The flavor combinations in the one are wonderful, enough so that if you’re vegetarian, stick with the recipe and simply use more potatoes, substitute vegetable broth for chicken, and leave out the bacon.
7. Potato, Broccoli and Cheese Soup: You’ll need a little more time for this one, but it will be worth the work and you can make enough for leftovers.
There’s nothing hard about it, but you do have to chop onions, lots of potatoes, and broccoli, as well as shred a good amount of cheese. If you have older kids, it’s a nice activity to sit around the table and have everyone pitch in on dinner to make things go faster and get in some good family chat time.
Here are a couple of other time-saving tips for you. Don’t precook the broccoli, throw it in with the potatoes about five minutes before they’re tender.
Also, don’t puree half the soup in the food processor, just take a potato masher to the pot before adding the cheese and mash the potatoes to your liking.
It’s simple to make this one vegetarian by swapping out vegetable bouillon cubes for chicken.
Connect With Kids Party Characters
Get your winter off to a good start by focusing on warmth and introducing some (or all!) of these kid-friendly recipes into your dinner plans.
And please join Kids Party Characters on Facebook for more tips on raising healthy and happy kids, as well as updates on the magic we bring to children’s parties.
Book your next party at KidsPartyCharacters.com, where we have over 200 of the most popular characters waiting to become your child’s specially-invited party guest.
And if there isn’t a Kids Party Characters in your area, consider starting your own. It’s easier than you think, and includes step-by-step training from Kids Party Characters owner Cheryl Jacobs.
Check out the opportunity she has for busy moms who stay home with their kids — or wish they did — and schedule a free call with Cheryl right here to get all your questions answered.
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