Tom’s story: Laugh to eat
Tom is 5 years old. He doesn’t like to eat. Since he was 1 year old, every meal is a circus performance for Tom’s mother and jolly old grandmother.
His grandmother had to make funny faces, tell funny stories, hoping only for one thing to happen. That is little Tom opened his little mouth to laugh. That’s when his mother strike…with a spoon of yummy spaghetti or whatever it is on the breakfast, lunch, or dinner plate.
One day, Tom’s uncle brought his laptop to the house. Little Tom wants to play the games. His uncle promised to let him play while eating. Everything went fine…until his uncle need the computer to check on work.
That’s when a beautiful vase went flying, smashing into the laptop. Tom’s mother had to replace the laptop. But she was content that Tom ate the whole bowl of spaghetti. See how expensive it is just to get your kids to eat?
A bad eating habit: Eating rampage
Ben is the only child so his parents give in most of his requests. His mother stays home to take care of Ben while his father goes to work for a major company.
Ben took a long time to eat. It takes a lot of sweet talk, hugs, promises, and about 45 minutes to get Ben to drink a bottle of milk.
On one beautiful Sunday, Ben refused to drink his milk, despite 2 hours of sweet talk and bribes from his mother. Ben’s father came home and a little stressed with all the work and dealing with people. But he loves Ben. He knew Ben didn’t want to drink the milk so he tried to sweet talk his son for another half-hour. Nothing worked.
Ben not only didn’t drink the milk but also ran a rampage on the floor. Ben’s father had enough. He got a ruler and tape on Ben’s hands 3 times; his face was filled with anger. This is the first time his father punished him.
Ben stared at his father for 2 minutes. 2 angry eyes were looking back at him. Suddenly Ben stood up and ran to the table for the bottle of milk. It took Ben about 30 seconds to knock that whole thing off.
Another bad eating habit: Picky eating
Dan was a little skinnier than his peers. He is very cute but he has one flaw. When Dan plays, he forgets to eat. If his mother doesn’t feed him, he can go a whole day without any food.
So for every meal, his mother has to run after him to feed him. Running after a 5 year-old for 2 hours is like running a 20-mile marathon. It was long and exhausted. But that’s the only way to get him to eat at home.
Actually, there is another way to make him eat. If Dan were in an eating race with one of his friends, he would eat faster than the speed of light…(figuratively!)
Healthy eating habits for children
As you can see, you need a lot of patience, humor, energy, and sometimes discipline just to feed your kids. Sometimes it seems like getting that PH.D is much easier than getting your kids the nutrition they need.
There isn’t one way to feed your kids since each of the kids is unique in personality, eating style, and eating habit. Some children work well with sweet talk and promises. Others like to play and laugh while eating.
As parents, you are more concerned with how much your kids eat than how your kids eat? Most parents are. I was the same way. But when I care so much about the quantity and the quality of the food, I forget about the eating behavior.
How did I get my kids to eat?
After a year of running and making faces, I was tired. Something needs to change. When my child was running around, I let her run. I let it pass her usual lunchtime to see how she would react. She knew I forgot her lunch but she ignored me and kept playing.
I kept an eye on her but didn’t mention anything about the food. After 2 hours of playing and ignoring me, she came to me while I was having a little fruit snake. She asked me for a bite. How cute! My little daughter is finally hungry.
So I asked her if she wants her noodles and milk, she said yes, climbed onto the chair, waiting for the food. That was the first lunch with no running, no yelling, no airplane imitator, and no funny face. I did this a couple of times to get her into a proper eating habit. It takes a little patient and tough love but I did it.
To some parent, running around or making funny faces is much easier than straightening their children’s eating behaviors. The kids’ eating habit can have a strong effect on their behavior later. If you give in to your kids too much, they would think you are there to please them.
Eating habit to a five-year-old may not be important to you right now. But if they don’t listen to you now, what will happen in 10 years when they are teenagers? Think about it.
