On the Menu... Or Floor...

Dinner time seems to be that time of day where my kids would rather be running around bare footed through snow instead of sitting down eating a meal. It doesn’t matter if it is their favorite food or something they do not like, they will battle me to the death. I use to worry that they weren’t getting what they needed and were going to go to sleep hungry, but it was quickly brought to my attention that if they are hungry they’ll tell me.

Yes, I do still cook dinner every night. I do still attempt to get them to eat, but I do not argue with them to sit down and eat. I’ve always been one to pick my battles, and it seemed like I was going to be arguing with them every single night to get them to eat. When I fought with them the meals went from on the menu… to on the floor, which in turn led to me being frustrated and not tolerating anything past this moment.

I’ve learned over the years not to cater to my children and make them what they want all the time. Instead I make meals everyone will enjoy, and if they don’t like it, tough! They’ll either eat or they won’t. I’m not going to force them to eat, but if they are truly hungry they’ll eat whatever you put in front of them. My kids are known to eat massive breakfast, somewhat large lunch and then have multiple snacks throughout the day. People have told me to restrict their snacks and meal sizes, but sorry people. If my kids are hungry, willing to eat everything I put in front of them, I am going to take advantage of it!

They eat very healthy and if they are not hungry by dinner time I am not going to panic.

How Much Do Children Eat?

If we don’t interfere, our children will eat as much as they need. Being a very natural thing to do to survive, children want to eat and are fully capable of regulating their intake of food. Think of it, even when newborn, babies stop eating when they are full. How ever much you try, you won’t be able to force a full baby to eat. He will cry, spit and turn his head away if you try. Why would not an 8-month old or a 2-year-old be able to regulate his or her intake when he/she could already at birth?

Trust your baby!

It may also be good to know that children are inconsistent in their eating habits. One day they’ll eat a lot, the next day very little. One day your kid loves potatoes, the next day he’ll refuse to even taste one piece. That’s normal behavior for a child.

Kids know when they are hungry and don’t worry they will tell you… kids may be unable to cook for themselves, but they’ve been telling us since the day they were born when they are hungry, so why stop believing them now? Stop making yourself feel overwhelmed, they are smarter then you think.

The Parents’ Role

We count!

Parents can really help giving their children good eating habits. Or bad…

If we pick on them, force them to eat, use fatty foods as praise or consolation and make our kids eat alone most of the time, we can really ruin their natural eating habits.

On the other hand, it we eat together with our kids, serve them healthy food they like, combined with a few new foods now and then, and let the child decide how much to eat, their eating habits are likely to develop well.

A notable American dietitian, Ellen Satter has some golden rules to avoid power struggles at the dinner table:

The parents’ responsibility is to:

Choose and buy the food
Plan, cook and serve the food
Make the family meals are nice
Decide what is acceptable manners around the dinner table

The children’s responsibility is to:

Decide how much food he or she wants to eat
If he or she wants to eat

So, how do you deal with your kids not eating meals? Do you make them sit and eat? Let us know what you do to get your kids to eat and stop making your kitchen floor become a buffet table.