Hello, friends! Join me in welcoming Graciela of @gracielaraquel on Instagram, who’s the newest addition to the Babiekins blogging team!
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Hi, my name is Graciela and I live with my husband and son Gabriel Mavi (2) in the Netherlands in a small lovely town near the sea. One of the great benefits of living in a small country like the Netherlands is that everything is so close. And I love that because that means I have my big Argentinian family near by me. I’m really a family kind of person and so is my husband. He comes from a big (Turkish) family as well. My little son is growing up with a lot of aunties and uncles around him to love and there is always someone to babysit — which is quite handy since my husband and I both work. 
Beside my big family, I also love fashion a lot. I have studied Design & Styling for one year in Amsterdam. And like most mothers I like the brands Bobo Choses and Mini Rodini a lot for my little guy. Besides all the playful kids’ brands, I also really like the more minimalistic little collection of COS. And for some reasons I always go for stripes. I love stripes.
(Our organic garden!)
I’m a dietitian and we have our own organic garden. Healthy food is an important thing in my live and since the birth of Gabriel it’s become even more important. I think every parent wants to feed his child with healthy stuff full of vitamins. But nowadays it’s more difficult to eat real healthy food, since there are so many products to choose from. Most of these products contain a lot of food additives. So I have some tips for you and your little one to eat more healthy:
1. Get your kid(s) involved. Kids enjoy helping adults to shop groceries, selecting what goes in their lunchbox and preparing dinner. I know that isn’t always an easy thing to do but give them a task. Because it’s also chance for you to teach them about healthy food.
2. Look at the ingredient list of the product you choose. You don’t have to read every ingredient on the list. But remember: The longer the ingredient list, the more processed a food is likely to be.
3. Healthy snacks. Choose for healthy snacks between meals. Make sure you have a variety of healthy snacks available instead of empty calorie snacks. I always have plenty of fruits, vegetables and nuts to eat. But Gabriel loves dried fruits as a snack, his favorites are raisins, dried apricot and cranberries.
4. Relax and enjoy. When your kid is a picky eater avoid struggles. But keep on offering because it takes most kids 8-10 presentations of a new food before they will accept it. Most of all it has to be fun. I’m a lucky mum because Gabriel loves to eat almost everything healthy. But he also has periods that he’s a picky eater and that’s normal. The most important thing is that you don’t make a big thing about it and relax.
5. Limit beverages before eating. Because liquids often fill up. When Gabriel drinks a lot before dinner he will not eat a lot. I also try to avoid surgery drinks and give Gabriel most of the time tea and water.
Of course beside the healthy food, we eat ice-cream, cake and cookies.