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Cornell University : Cornell Cooperative Extension
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| Yates Association |
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Feeding Children |
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Learning about eating starts at birth. Parents develop feeding relationships with their children from day one. Maintaining a positive feeding relationship demands a division of responsibility. Parents are responsible for what the child is offered to eat and the manner in which it is presented. The child is responsible for how much, and even whether, eating takes place. To help children form good habits, adults should bring nutritious foods into the home and eat a variety of nutritious food themselves. Since children imitate parents, a parent needs to eat a balanced diet. All people over 2 years old should enjoy a variety of foods from the food guide pyramid, thus avoiding excessive fat, sugar and salt. Teach children about food. Offering small children small servings, providing them with utensils that fit their hands and mouths, and keeping from insisting they clean their plates are examples of actions that encourage children to form the right kind of eating habits. Attaching inappropriate meanings to food is sometimes a problem. For instance, parents who urge their children to clean their plates and drink their milk so they can have dessert make the dessert a desirable reward. Similarly, children will learn that rejecting food is an effective way to get attention if parents become angry or upset over it. Young children may experience food jags. They only want to eat a certain food, such as peanut butter, or they completely push away a group of foods, like green vegetables. Be patient and continue to offer a variety of foods. Young children may need to see a food offered over 20 times before they are willing to try the new food. Remember, children go through growth periods and food intake will vary from day to day. Look at the food intake average over at least a week. Get children involved in helping to prepare meals and snacks. In this way they take pleasure in working together and learning about food preparation and the tastes and textures of a variety of foods. Try to have regularly scheduled family meals and snacks so children know when to expect to eat. To alleviate the dessert struggle, some parents serve food family style, putting the dessert right on the table with the rest of the meal. For the best results, remember the division of responsibilities: that parents provide the food and the children decide how much to eat. Cornell
Cooperative Extension Yates Association |
