How to end the battle with your children at lunchtime
Food and meal times should be pleasant and enjoyable. Disputes over food can cause excessive stress in the family and very negatively affect the relationships between its members. These 8 tips to end battles and fights at the table with children will help us create a good family atmosphere.
The distribution of power between parents and children as far as food is concerned can help to temper and calm power struggles. In addition to eliminating stress, the child is also learning to improve their social interaction skills and develop a healthy and healthy relationship with food. The efforts made to reduce the friction and stresses caused by the food will be beneficial for all parties involved.
8 keys to end stress in meals
If we are based on the patterns of infant feeding, the message with which we must stay the parents to try to limit the disputes that we have with our children by the food is the following one:
1. Parents make decisions relating to your child trying to choose what is best for him / her. This includes decisions about the type of food they are given, at what times meals, snacks and snacks are served, and where those meals are served. Your son, by owning his own body, is going to decide how much food he is going to eat, or even if he eats something or runs out of food.
An important aspect of this balance of power is that if the child chooses not to eat, then cookies can not be offered as a snack before the next scheduled meal arrives.
2. Give the child plenty of time to eat (eg, 20 minutes) and, after that time, remove the plate with the food you have left. Thus, there will be time for the child to re-enter hunger, so that he can enjoy his next encounter with food.
3. It is not necessary to fight. All you have to say to the child when he asks for food is "I know you're hungry, this has happened to you because you did not want to eat lunch, we'll all eat together after you take a while to sleep." The child will learn to eat enough so that he does not get hungry before the next meal or snack.
4. Forcing children to eat is counterproductive both when they are not hungry or when they do not want to eat everything on the plate. If you want the child to develop a healthy and healthy relationship with food, parents should control what, when and where. Remember, the child holds the reins of how much and even if he eats something or nothing.
If a thin child that has no appetite is forced to eat more the only thing that is achieved is to cause anxiety and a rejection of those foods that you are forcing you to eat.
If a chubby child, during the meal, you are not allowed to eat until you are satisfied you will end up facing the meals with a certain fear.
5. There is no need to cook different dishes for the different members of the family, unless someone has a disease or a documented medical problem. Even the little ones can enjoy the same dishes that the rest of the family eats. Minimizing "special dishes" encourages all family members to explore and enjoy new foods, instead of simply asking for their favorite dishes, already known.
6. Teach children to behave correctly at the table It will make meals - both at home and abroad - more pleasant and enjoyable for everyone. Children behave outside the home in the same way they behave at home.Parents can empower their children to eat with education helping them to acquire the skills they will need to eat at a restaurant, to dine at someone else's house or to eat at the nursery or at school. A child who takes control and dominates the lunchtime with his misbehavior will cost a lot when he is left in charge of other adults who may not tolerate his misbehavior. When a child misbehaves, he is unable to enjoy the family meal with the rest of the diners. Setting limits that are consistent with family rules will be beneficial for your child, both now and in the future.
7. Parents are the ones who decide when children can eat. Establishing a routine of meals, snacks and snacks is necessary so that the child, according to that schedule, learns to calculate and control what he eats. If the time between meals and snacks varies daily, the child may end up having a snack at a time when he is not hungry or hungry for several hours waiting for the next meal. Having a set schedule allows the child to instinctively know how much he needs to eat to feel full of energy until the next meal or snack arrives.
8. Eating with children is also important. Eating alone only in the kitchen or in front of the TV does not help the child learn the social component of the meal nor does it allow him to have a pleasant experience while eating. Social skills, conversation and polishing behavior are important components of the process of learning to have a healthy and healthy relationship with food. Children can not acquire these skills if they always eat alone.
Sitting with the children (at least once a day) and sharing a meal with them is an essential element of the learning process necessary to achieve a healthy and healthy relationship with the food.
Deanna Marie Mason, expert in education and family health. Blog author Dr. Deanna Marie Mason. Proactive fatherhood
It may interest you:
- Infant feeding, the most frequent doubts
- 6 keys to end fights with food on the table
- The 7 big mistakes to teach children to eat
- Eating with education: at the table, clear rules
- Children who do not want to eat
- Teach education at the table
