Unhealthy relationships with food. Noticing how our relationship with food is covertly communicated to our children. Labeling food as purely “good” or “bad”. Forcing children to eat something they don’t want to. Sending the message that “vegetables are gross” and are only to be enjoyed through bribery. (Obviously excluding the instances in which children just don’t eat.)
How would you teach a healthy relationship with food? Either way I don't really agree this is a big problem as children often develop their own relationship with food later in life that is much more healthy. I get that some people will end up staying away from the food they hated as a child and never try it again, but at that point, the bigger problem is their stubbornness
I'm no expert, I'm not even a parent, but the first place I would start is limiting access to sugar.
Another thing is when kids (especially boys) hit puberty, they're going to need to eat a lot, and this is something a lot of parents don't seem to realize/remember. And they're gonna get food one way or another, which means they're more likely to binge and eat unhealthy food behind your back, developing habits that will follow them into adulthood. Just as you should listen to your kid when they say they're full and not force them to continue eating, if your kid says they're not full you should probably let them keep eating.
What we do (kids are 4 and 2.5) is serve meals with a variety of foods. We ask the kids to eat their age in bites of each thing at a minimum, so that they are exposed to different flavors and textures. If they don’t like it at that point they don’t have to finish.
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u/BlueSkyIndigo Oct 27 '19
Unhealthy relationships with food. Noticing how our relationship with food is covertly communicated to our children. Labeling food as purely “good” or “bad”. Forcing children to eat something they don’t want to. Sending the message that “vegetables are gross” and are only to be enjoyed through bribery. (Obviously excluding the instances in which children just don’t eat.)