I regularly have parents share with me the poor eating habits of their children. Some parents are really concerned and others don’t have a clue how this situation came to be.
If your child will only eat peanut butter sandwiches for dinner, it’s not the end of the world. Most young children go through several food fetishes, where they’ll eat only one particular food. Sometimes food fetishes are not really about eating, but a way for your child to test your authority. If your child gets your attention and is rewarded by your attention, she quickly learns this is a good way to upset you.
My suggestion is not to play the food game, don’t get into a situation where there are battles over food. You really can’t force your child to eat, so why even start into this battle. Consider whether your child wants to control her food intake because she is too limited in her decision making role in other aspects of her life. Everyone needs to feel that she has control over something.
If you take away the attention that your child gets for her poor eating habits and replace it with positive attention throughout the day, these food fetishes may slowly disappear. Your child needs to see that you’re not going to get all fussed up just because she won’t eat dinner with her family.
A more balanced approach is to separate roles in relation to food. As a parent, it is your role to provide nutritious food in an appetizing manner. It is your child’s role if she chooses to eat and how much she eats. You can control what foods you have at home. Your child will eat something other than chips, if chips are not in your home. Eliminate food purchases that compromise your family’s health and have become battle zones.
Include your child in meal planning and preparation; discuss nutrition with her and let her make some choices. Does she want green beans or corn for dinner? This helps your child learn how to make appropriate food choices. Model good eating habits. Watching you eat nutritious foods will set the stage for your child’s learning how to eat a balanced diet. This modeling also includes restricting your own intake of less healthy food choices.
Provide fruit and vegetables for snack foods. Take the time to clean and prepare these foods, so they are readily available in the refrigerator. If your child is an overeater, make all foods legal, reduce the size of her portions, eliminate second helpings, and encourage her to become more active.
Make a habit of eating together on a regular, if not daily, basis. During this meal time, make conversation the focus, not the television or side comments on what is being eaten and what isn’t. Talking encourages slower eating and allows your family to be more aware of what is being eaten. Watching television leads to absent-minded eating and established a habit of thinking about food whenever the television is on.
Food habits are hard to change, but we can all learn to eat healthier. It takes about a dozen tastings of new foods for us to learn to like the taste. Most adults eat food now that they would never touch as a child. So keep encouraging your child to taste new foods and continue to serve and enjoy foods that your child has not yet learned to enjoy.
Additional information is available from your local office of Penn State Cooperative Extension. In Clearfield, the office is located in the Multi-Service Center, or by calling 765-7878. In Brookville, the office is located at 180 Main Street, or by calling 849-7361. Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce.