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All of us educated moms and dads know the importance of healthy eating. We know we need to provide our child a balanced diet – which includes carbohydrates, proteins, fat, vitamins and minerals. We also know that many international organizations advise parents to feed their child at least one serving of 4-5 fruits and vegetables every day. All these seem sensible and doable, till the point you load up your child’s plate and put it in front of her. That’s when the real battle begins. Your child does not want to eat some or all of the plate’s content. You cajole, scold and shout to force-feed your child. The end result is an exhausted and irritated you and a completely unhappy and upset child. This need not and should not be the case.
Parents often think that their children are much younger and hence do not know how much and how often to eat. They also believe that they want their kids to grow strong and healthy, and that is why they need to force-feed. But what essentially comprises force-feeding a child? The below pointers will just show how much parents tend to control when it comes to eating:
This is not all. Some children cry or vomit during meals, but parents counter that as well with more food, besides going through emotional trauma. Parents, especially in the developing countries, feel insecure about their kids’ physical stature and are often worried that their kids are not ‘as strong as they should be’. However force-feeding a child has its own negative effects, and ultimately leads to unhealthy eating habits. Read on to understand the negative effects of force-feeding, and tips to help your child better.
As a parent, your first duty is to feed the kids. But the majority of us take this too seriously and makes it our life’s mission to ensure the child licks clean the plate/bowl in front of her. Here are some of the common mistakes we are doing:
This happens almost all over the world, but is more dominant in India, where parents use physical and psychological ways to make children polish their plates clean. Mostly, Indian moms feel that unless they are satisfied, the kid cannot have had enough food. Sadly, we end up forcing kids to eat what they may not want to, both on the quality and quantity aspects.
There are plenty of reasons why you should not force-feed your kid. For starters, force-feeding imbibes unhealthy eating habits in the child, which stay lifelong. Some other pointers to consider the next time you push your child to finish his cereal are:
If you have a picky eater at home and wondering why he is very fussy about his food, the first step is to understand why he is fussy. The reasons could include the amount of processed and junk food your child has access to, lack of exercise and over-feeding during a previous meal. For more details on these and other reasons, read why your child is a finicky eater .
The next step is to understand how to get your fussy eater to eat. We have compiled some techniques and tricks to deal with a fussy eater
Yes, there are instances when parents have to resolve to force-feeding their children, or example, when a child is so excited about playing cricket that he misses his lunch and does not want to eat till the game is over. Or your child might have fallen asleep before you could serve him dinner. In such scenarios, kids shun away from food and do not want to eat. However, experts recommend that even under these circumstances, it is best to let the kids eat when they want to, and how much they want to.
There are quite a lot of things you can do to ensure that your child eats healthy. This includes letting your child decide the quantity of food he wants to eat, feeding on time, being a good role model and encouraging your child to exercise. For more details, see our piece on Healthy Eating Habits.
It is also important to provide your child with a balanced diet. To understand more about your child’s nutritional needs, read The Right Nutrition for Your Toddler.
Happy parenting!
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