Developing tastes and good eating habits in your child is not always easy. Two researchers from the University of Houston present strategies to adopt at the table to cleverly avoid confrontations during family meals.
- According to the study, it is essential to help children recognize the feeling of satiety.
- Avoid food blackmail. This practice risks getting them used to overeating, according to experts.
Does your child wince when green food is put on their plate? Do your meals often end in crying or screaming? And you don’t know what to do anymore? Researchers Leslie A. Frankel and Ritu Sampige from the University of Houston have found the best way to teach children to have a healthy relationship with food: using responsive eating.
Reactive food: what is it?
Reactive feeding is about helping the child recognize feelings of fullness and understand the importance of responding to these cues appropriately. Perhaps the easiest way to clarify this concept is to give examples of its opposite and therefore to be avoided, which is non-reactive power:
- ask the child to always finish his plate;
- promise a good dessert to convince him to eat vegetables or do his chores.
“We consider these types of non-responsive feeding practices to be less optimal because they negate children’s ability to internally regulate how much food they should eat,” explains Ritu Sampige.
Have a positive and responsive attitude at the table
To help your child have a good relationship with food, you have to have a positive attitude yourself at the table. “Adults guide the mealtime mood through attitudes they bring to the family table, even when they don’t realize it. Staying positively involved with your children throughout family meals can make a difference sustainable”assures the experts whose work was presented in the journal Appetite.
“It’s not all black or all white. Parents tend to use many tactics to get their children to eat and behave or do what is expected of them. The main difference is the level to which they are engaged at mealtimes and their ability to avoid “insensitive” eating behaviors and the principle of food rewards”says Leslie A. Frankel.
Their research shows that adults who are most able to be responsive to children’s needs tend to guide them better towards a healthy, balanced diet.
“Food is often at the center of festive moments, and that’s a beautiful thing. It’s the case of family outings for ice cream and the joyful moments that children spend at the table with their family and friends. The important factor is not adhering too strictly to the rules – or expecting every meal to go well – but helping parents move towards feeding practices that take into account children’s innate sense of when to stop eating as well as mealtime rituals shared with everyone around the table”concludes the expert.