Category: Parent Talk
Ok, this link is for those parentss who are blessed with picky eaters, or who cares teaching and adopting good nutritional habits for their family.
http://www.askdrsears.com/?q=topics%2Ffamily-nutrition%2Fabcs-teaching-nutrition-your-kids
Thank you. This is good to keep track of.
Thank you. Storing up anything that might be helpful, later.
I know at least when the daughter was little, they had said not to make a big deal out of foods like in former times like when we were kids, where you had to eat everything. So you mainly were now supposed to let them eat what they wished - within reason of course - and their body would regulate things. I think we sort of practiced that to a moderate amount, not like many people but not real traditional like either. Just be sensible is all I can say. The daughter turned out liking vegetables a lot, and without a whole lot of coaxing. But she rarely will eat meat, even when she was younger. As a little kid wouldn't even eat fish sticks, that's how much she despises fish.
When my siblings were younger and they complained about the food my mom put in front of them, she would not let them leave the table until they finished it. I wasn't picky hardly ever, so she let me off the hook during the few times I didn't like something.
We at least had to eat part of something we didn't like. My dad said his dad used to make him eat whatever he refused to eat for dinner the next day for breakfast, cold. Thank gosh he didn't do that to us! He's had to eat cold mashed potatoes before!
I actually know a girl who thinks cold mashed potatoes are delicious. lol
When we were kids, we damn well cleaned our plates. Even if I'd eaten nearly all of my steak(I hated steak and we didn't have a lot of money then so it wasn't the best meat you could find, very chewy and suchlike) I'd have to sit there until I choked down that last piece. I always thought that was very arbitrary and caused a lot of unnecessary suffering.
I agree with leo. I don't think it's so much about teaching your kids how to eat, as it is about letting them eat what they want in moderation.
I was one of those kids who was raised to eat everything on my plate, whether I liked it or not, and I don't feel that was the least bit helpful in teaching me anything worth learning.
When I was a kid, my mom new I don't like rosted chicken so she gave me a leg and a breast among other things, and I couldn't get up till I ate it all, so I got used to it. so yeah...
I'm surprised, really. Most of what you have said comes from the 60s and 70s and before. I thought all that went away with my own generation being parents.
Depends on the parent's upbringing. My father, in particular, was raised in a very strict, backward way, and he passed on a lot of it to his kids. My mom was much more modern in her thinking, but she didn't have much of a voice in our family so Dad's word was usually law in our house, at least when we were little. And, as Chelsea said, forcing a child to clean his or her plate for the sake of making them do it doesn't teach anything. All it does is make the child miserable, and possibly creates a disgust reaction to foods they may otherwise have tolerated. Sometimes, you really do dislike a food, or you're simply full, and being forced to eat is silly and accomplishes nothing. What really irked me was that, as a kid, there was no difficulty in getting me to eat my vegies and fruit, and I never whined about dessert. Yet I still had to choke down that last piece of meat just for the sake of finishing my dinner. I'd sit at the table long after everyone else had finished, trying to get up the courage to eat food I didn't like. Safe to say I didn't learn anything from that experience.
Of course being parents is all about teaching and guiding their children to make choices and to realize that every choice has consequences be they positive or negative! This includes, but not limited to respecting self and others, following rules, asserting self identity and not give in to peer pressure, and yes… making healthy or unhealthy choices when it comes to food!
The very first thing that parents should know is that even as babies, these little heart stealers already know how to regulate there food intake and will turn away from a breast or a bottle when they’ve had enough! The worse thing we could do as parents is not respecting this cue, and continue to coax them to have more milk! – Essentially saying don’t trust your body to know how much it needs, over eating is ok even though you’ve had enough! And we wonder why there’s an unhealthy relationship developed when it comes to food and food habits…?
Here are some things I did, and still do that work in teaching my daughter about food.
Contrary to formula, breast milk changes in taste according to what a mother eats! So, for the duration of our nursing relationship, I incorporated different types of food laying the foundation to my daughter being receptive to new and interesting flavors. When she was old enough for baby food, I continued to offer her various choices and combo, and the meal would conclude when she turns her head away. I did not use any salt or sweetener in food preparation, preferring for her to appreciate the natural flavor of any given fruit or veggie. I also refrain from praising as I find said concept absurd… I cringe every time I hear a parent say “good girl! You’ve finish your plate” Since when is a child’s value as a person depends upon his/her ability to polish an often overfilled plate off anyways???
Moreover, between the ages of 4 and 5, children generally love to please, and if that meant finishing off his plate even though he’s no longer hungry just to get praised, can be harmful in the long run!
When she was ready for self-fed, I purposely kept, and still keep the portion reasonably small, preferring for her to ask for more if she needs or wants it! We would, and still spend time together in the kitchen, where she’d be given special jobs like washing fruits and veggies, pealing boiled eggs, flavoring food with various spices, and setting the table! Children love to feel important and being able to help. By getting them involved and pointing out how well they did at any given task, it is a win-win situation. She justly feels good for helping out, and I’m able to safe a bit of time. Plus, the more they are involved in food preparation, the likelier they are to eat it! We talk a lot about the nutrition or the lack there of during one of our bonding moments spend prepping food, and I always refrain from labeling food good or bad, but rather healthy vs. unhealthy, nutritional or non-nutritional. With “the very Hungry Caterpillar being one of her favorite books, I use it as a base to ask her questions like, are oranges, , apples and strawberries healthy choices? At 2, it was a yes answer, and now she’d say yes, because they are fruits with different vitamins. She would even add that oranges contain vitamin C to help fight colds. And when ask about ice-cream cone, she’d say it’s a “once in a while food” because there’s too much sugar. How would she be able to know all this if you, as a parent, don’t teach or guide her?
I often taken her food shopping, she’d given 3 items to remember from the list, and she would help to pick them out by herself. Its one way of teaching her math by comparing the prices between one type of jam vs. another.
Now that she is 5, once a month, we’d have one night where we’d agree on a theme, and then shop and prepare that meal together. I.E salad bar, Italian, Chinese being the ones we’ve done thus far. I love it as we could talk about the food, the culture, and even the languages. As a trilingual little girl, she is quite sensitive about recognizing different languages and constantly asking question about what she hears. But alas I digress… I would put on some music corresponded to the theme, light a candle for a centre piece, and she’d get a balloon attached to the back of her chair to play with after the meal. Needless to say, she loves it and look forward to our next special meal.
Every so often, I also make a point of introducing my little one to new veggie, fruit, or recipe, choosing the moments when she is particularly hungry and thus *adventurous*… I.E after school, beginning of a meal…! And she need to have at least 2 to 3 bites before quitting should she not care for the new taste of a particular item.
In short, what I am saying is that food is not something just to fill the tummy. Food is fun, unique, allows plenty of opportunities to be creative, and what we choose to eat plays an important role in keeping our bodies healthy or not! Heck, it could even serves as one of the means to teach children discipline. – Hold off on the desert until your body has taken in the healthy nourishment it needs before indulge in some ice-cream or cake. Incidentally, in our home, desert does not always mean sweets, but a fruit, yogurt cup, popsicles made from leftover smoothie where I’d blend various fruits with coconut milk, honey or agave nectar for extra flavor.
Through careful planning and guidance, I hope to impart on my daughter a healthy habit and a positive attitude toward food. I am happy that it is working thus far! She loves all fruits and veggies with the exception of raw carrots and lettuce.
Ok, I think this post has gone on long enough. I feel the subject at hand is important enough for me to spend the time on, so there you go, lol.
Make that dessert, lol.
mini right on lady jane. you are doing a wonderful job with your daughter. one of the reasons we have obese americans is because we were made to clean up our plates. my pediatrician told me that babies and toddlers are the only people who truly listen to their bodies and know when they are full. it's only when society puts expectations on them that they get in to trouble.
here is another interesting story. as a kid I hated beets. to this day I will not eat them in any way. one day I decided to try one as I was being a good wife and cooking them for the husband. I tasted it and my throat started to burn and my mouth got numb. I guess all that angst and misery as a kid was really an allergy in disguise. often if a child doesn't like something especially if a family history of allergies is present it could be that. for example my son wis allergic to shrimp. when he was five or six he spit them in the trash. I did my best to stay calm and asked him why. he said my mouth hurts. so I went with him to the bathroom and he said he had big red bbumps on his cheeks. I stuck my hand in there and voila he was right. so no more shrimp for him. he just didn't have the words to explain the problem.
My mom told me that when she was growing up, you either ate everything put in front of you for dinner, or you ate it cold for breakfast the next morning. Ugh.
And I hate, and have always hated, green beans.