The Mealtime Challenge By Joy Ride School

One of the most common concerns of parents is always related to food and their children. Mealtimes make the parents very anxious due to power struggles between the parents and the child at those times. Parents unintentionally indulge in bribing so that by hook or crook the child eats something atleast.

As parents, the mealtime of your child should be regarded as a sacred activity. The entire experience needs to be made enjoyable.

The food intake of the children is directly related to their activity levels as well. Children who lead a sedentary lifestyle will not be as hungry as children who go for outdoor activities.

Here are some strategies which have been useful for parents in reducing the mealtime challenge:

• Never ever force-feed anything especially milk, at a time when the child is stressed and has other anxieties to deal with as milk has complex protein and takes longer time to digest when the child is under stress. In such a situation the child will not finish his/her Tiffin as they would feel full. Therefore till the time the child is not settled in pre-school parents are advised not to serve milk in the morning to the child.
• Arrange Family Meals and let the child eat with you. Let the child also use the same crockery as yours.
• Whenever you are serving food or packing tiffin for your child, make sure you give them child sized portions only. Children feel frustrated when they cannot finish their food like their friends. It also encourages children not to waste food.
• Involve your kids in the proves of serving food, laying table etc.
  
• Do not put too many restrictions in the name of table manners when your child is making effort to become independent at the task of eating.
• Do not expect children to eat what you cannot eat. We recently dealt with a case wherein a mother came to us telling that her child does not eat green vegetables. It was later found out that the mother herself was not in a habit to eat green vegetables. Since the child had not seen his mother eating green vegetables and often arguing with her mother in law about green vegetables the child developed a phobia of green vegetables. Once the mother started eating green vegetables on her own and started talking positive about the same within 45 days the child started developing habits of eating green vegetables.
• Do not make the TV the mealtime babysitter. Your child will hardly come to know about the food that is being eaten.

JoyRide school