Picky Eaters

Parents are often looking for advice when their children are picky eaters. The temptation, as the parent, is to take control of the situation and get your child to eat when and what you want. After all, parents generally want what is best for their children, and this includes eating the right amounts of healthy, nutritious food. The problem with food is that you can not force your child to eat so you end up loosing control and the child quickly learns that s/he has the control. The pressure from the parent to eat certain foods results in the child asserting control or independence by not eating those particular items.

A wonderful child nutrition expert, Ellyn Satter put it this way, “kids feel the pressure as an intrusion on their personal space, and resist. They also sense that if they have to be pressured to eat a food, that food must not be good. ...If you’re forcing or even persuading, they’ll have negative feelings, which will in turn interfere with their ability to eat.” The answer is what Ellyn Satter calls the Division of Responsibility. The parent is responsible for choosing which foods to put on the table and the child is responsible for choosing which of those foods to eat and how much. It sounds quite simple but it takes a little practice. Especially, if parents have started catering to the child’s requests to eat something that is not part of the meal that is offered.

To see more check out Ellyn Satter’s website at www.ellynsatter.com or see a short interview with her at http://bettertogetherbc.ca/blog/single/got-a-picky-eater-ellyn-satters-here-to-help