Can you list the most common complaints in every part of the world?
“Nobody understands my real worth.”
“Life isn’t as good as it once used to be.”
“My child never eats enough.”
Good news: Help is here in printed form for complaint #3. Read on! A word of caution: This article isn’t a pure campaign against junk food (even though it strongly wishes to be!)
As a parent or caretaker of a young child, what is our responsibility when it comes to his eating habits? Two things, primarily: Love for cooking and relaxed attitude. Do you agree that “Food” is not just pertinent to eating alone? Surprisingly, it involves all the five sense organs – one after the other or several of them at the same time.
Any well-informed parent knows that breast milk is the best food for infants. Interestingly, during the lactating period, the mom’s diet is more important than the infant’s… That way, this period seems to be a virtual extension of pregnancy. Strange, but true.
‘Variety is the spice of life’, it is said. If your child is anywhere past six months, he would wish to apply this adage, too. For him, the variety of healthy food stuff gradually introduced is in itself a gateway to the adult world. When the special ingredient of ‘love’ is sufficiently added, every dish to him becomes a delicacy.
Luring children to the meal has always been a challenge. Different techniques work for different children at different moments. Story-telling, music, serving in a variety of colorful plates, spoon-fork-knife… The best way would be to eat as family, enjoying each others’ company. The bonding strengthens and the child gets his share of unparalleled love.
If you have befriended your child, the task of making him eat should be less difficult. He would in fact be eating more healthy food, instead of filling his tummy with empty calories.
Compelling a child to eat would only end up making him dislike some food items. To a certain extent, we should allow him to go easy on certain dishes. In fact, if he watches the parents relish such items, chances are that he would eat them, too, later. What he devours now could become ‘tasteless’ shortly. And vice versa. Moral: It’s worth being patient and persevering.
It would be wiser to make sure that the child is not constipated, as the appetite would then not be too good. The drugs that he might be on too, could dampen the desire for food. On the other hand, if your child is craving for food always, it would be better to see the physician, lest he be an obese and dull child, or even a juvenile diabetic.
Let us remember that a two-month-old lives to eat, but a two-year-old eats to live. For the higher-ups, the influence of life style is the deciding factor (stress at school, imitating friends or heroes, the homework-burden, high expectation of parents, low self-esteem…) YOU are the right person to help him out by locating the root cause of the problem. A plateful of healthy stuff for your child could translate into a life full of strength and energy.
That’s food for thought, right?
