You Can't Make Me Eat It !!!
--Excerpted with permission from 'SUPER EASY BAG
LUNCHES'
ISBN 0-9691665-2-4
When I was growing up, I would hear people say, "You can
lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink."
That saying reminds me of children's eating habits. You
can slave for hours in the kitchen, use your finest
place settings, even dine by candlelight but if your
child isn't hungry or doesn't like the cuisine, you
can't, using reasonable methods, make them eat it.
There are some things you can do to increase the
possibility that they will eat what you serve.
TEN TIPS FOR PICKY EATERS
1. Offer a wide variety of nutritious food and look
at the bigger picture.
Children's eating can be very unpredictable and
fluctuate sporadically. They love something one day and
hate it the next. They'll be just starving one minute
and not hungry a few minutes later. Serving a wide
variety of food and gently encouraging them to eat a
balance at every meal will eliminate many mealtime
battles. Looking at the bigger picture helps you see
that the balance might not come all in one day but
generally averages out over several days.
2. Don't force children to eat.
Making food an item of contention between you and your
child will leave you on the losing end of the battle.
Just how do you force a child to swallow something he
doesn't want to? "Open wide for the little birdie" and "Choo,
choo, choo, let the train in the tunnel" just don't cut
it after the first few months of eating. Children are
very adept at finding creative solutions to avoid the
dreaded items; hiding them in cheeks, pockets or on a
sibling's plate, feeding the pet under the table and
threatening to throw up. Now, that's one threat I'd
rather not challenge. Put yourself in their position.
Would you enjoy someone forcing you to eat something you
absolutely detest? It's not a pleasant situation to be
in as you may recall from your own childhood. Telling
children stories of starving children may just be enough
motivation to set their minds whirling on creative ways
to deliver the string beans and brussel sprouts to those
hungry, starving children. Children need to be taught to
be thankful they have plenty to eat and to be
compassionate and share with others who don't but this
information should not be a bargaining chip for mealtime
negotiations.
3. Make mealtime a positive experience.
Eating is not a competitive event with food as the
reward. Setting dessert up as the prize for eating the
rest of the meal elevates high fat, overly sweet food to
a position of unearned importance, creating habits of
overeating and craving for unhealthy foods. Keeping
positive and negative pressure to a minimum where food
is involved makes for a relaxed eating atmosphere. Keep
informed about your child's lunch room atmosphere at
school. A stressful school lunch time can seriously
affect a child's ability to function well at school.
4. Teach children to view food as nourishment for
active, healthy bodies.
Educate your child through reading books and discussing
how their bodies work. Understanding why their bodies
need fuel and what foods provide them with the best fuel
will help them make wiser food choices.
5. Stock up on nutrient rich foods.
The foods you have readily available in your home will
influence your children's diet and eating style. Keep
moderation and variety in mind when you stock your food
shelves.
6. Involve your children in the planning,
shopping, growing and preparation of food.
Encouraging your child to make decisions about what to
serve and how to eat encourages independent thinking
skills and responsible decision making. The skills
involved in food preparation will be useful for a
lifetime. Teaching them to take small portions and add a
little more if they are still hungry helps prevent food
wasting.
7. Offer healthy between mean snacks
... for days when they're absolutely famished and
couldn't possibly wait until the next meal.
8. Be aware of other influences such as peer
pressure and advertising.
Foods that are totally yuck one week may be just the
coolest next. Food should not be in your Top 10 List of
Peer Issues that are worth arguing about. Save your
breath for more critical peer problems. Educating
children about the powerful medium of advertising at a
very young age will help them make wiser decisions and
become more immune to it's influence.
9. Set a positive example.
Abraham Lincoln is credited with saying that "the only
way to bring up a child in the way he should go, is to
travel that way yourself". Forcing your child to finish
that one last bite encourages poor eating habits. Look
at it this way, the bite is gone whether it travels your
child's digestive tract or makes an early exit to the
compost bucket. It is more harmful to encourage
overeating than to feed your compost pile. Eat when
you're hungry, quit when you're full is good advice.
10. Serve food children enjoy.
Foods come in a variety of textures, temperatures,
flavors and combinations. Children are unique
individuals and some are more sensitive to these
variations in foods while others will eat almost
anything. With the wide variety of foods available,
there are many choices that will satisfy both nutrition
and taste. Be sensitive to your child, serve foods they
enjoy along with foods that you encourage them to
experience. In conclusion, keeping your child's likes
and dislikes in mind, serving child-size portions and
encouraging them to sample new foods will help create a
positive attitude toward food and eating. A significant
portion of our lives revolves around food; planning,
growing, shopping, preparing, serving, eating and
cleaning up afterwards. To make healthy eating a
positive experience for our families is a gift that will
bring shared pleasure and endure for a lifetime.
