The 10 Commandments of Healthy Eating for Parents

[susieSA]

The 10 Commandments of Healthy Eating for Parents

It's as simple as counting to ten!

Thou shalt not force, bribe or coerce thy child to eat.

Thou shalt set a good example by eating at least five fruits and vegetables, three whole grain products, and three dairy servings per day thyself.

Thou shalt make mealtimes pleasant.

Thou shalt encourage thy child to help in meal planning, preparation, and cleanup.

Thou shalt back off when mealtime becomes a power struggle.

Thou shalt accept food "binges" as phases that will

Thou shalt accept the fact that thy child is an individual and thus will dislike certain foods (and there may be many!).

Thou shalt not give up on introducing thy child to new foods. Thou shalt realize it sometimes takes ten tries to get a child to accept a food.

Thou shalt use this division of responsibility for eating: As the parent, thou art responsible for deciding when and what to serve. Thy child is responsible for deciding how much (if any) will be eaten.

Thou shalt give thy child a multivitamin-mineral supplement if he is a picky eater.

(from Sparkpeople.com)

[PinkPanther]

I think you should give your kids a multi-vitamin every day no matter what.

[Anna_loves_Ben]

Thats a kool lil thing you got going. My boy is a horable eater, maby some of this will help.

[ruthiechan]

Those are good rules to go by however I give my kiddo a multivitamin no matter what, every day.

It is also important to know that children eat in cycles. When their bodies are growing the eat more, when their brains are growing they eat less. This is why I never force my child to more food than she's hungry for (yay for small portions). Besides, I want her to learn how to listen to her body and not just eat because everyone else or because it's on her plate. . .

They can also change their minds about a food either for or against, which is reasonable since their tastebuds are also growing, and sometimes it's because of the experiences surrounding the food.

[LegendadryPerc]

I wonder if "trying to get your child to eat" is a cultural trend, or if there is an underlying cause. Do people realy believe their kids need to be "gotten" to eat? Or is there something in our current society that makes our kids have a problem with this, a real problem, that parents notice, and thus try to fix by "getting" them to eat?

I know if my kids eat candy, they will often go for a whole day without eating, before they will accept a food that isn't candy. Do you think this is it? Is it hereditary (my family is made up of very picky eaters, but the foods they each will eat, they eat way more than most kids seem to)? Is it snacks (especially "nutritious" snacks like those granola bars that are about the same thing as a rice crispy treat)? Or do you think it is just a cultural fear that our kids are going to starve to death if we don't push food on them? Or maybe not eat the "right" things? Do you think there is a link between a possible underlying factor that causes kids not to eat, and an underlying factor to how many obese kids there are? (not saying there is necisarily anything wrong with a kid being obese - or necisarily anything not wrong with it )

Just wondering how we as a society got to the point where we actually needed this advice. (though I think this advice is still a little on the "pushy" side - like not taking "no" for an answer, but introducing a said food over and over again - how about maybe trying a different food. Did you know watermellon has many of the same vit.s that make brocolli and other dark green veg. good for you?)