Forcing children to eat...

Well I never struggled with that. I stopped feeding my children once they were two years. They sat with us for meals and were served a little of everything. This is how they developed their habit of eating everything

It is not just a question of eating by themselves , since some children do have allergies which many parents dont realise for a long time...In my family too my children were eating everything cooked at home , on their own once they were able to handle fork and spoon and I also wold make some special dish for them once in a while,  but that is not the issue ...I know of a family where very spicy fish curry is eaten almost every day and the child, 3 years old finds it difficult to eat. But the mother keeps on forcing the child to eat the same spicy food rather than keep some fish pieces separately with less spice or make some other arrangement .

My children never faced such problems. But, I suggest Parents should do a bit of experimentation. Instead of forcing the children for eating, parents should prepare that preparation which the child likes.

Arunima Singh wrote:

Well I never struggled with that. I stopped feeding my children once they were two years. They sat with us for meals and were served a little of everything. This is how they developed their habit of eating everything

It is good thing that we develop habit of eating every thing. My self have this habit. It is my principal that thing which I like eat enough quantity and which I not like much eat small quantity but never refuse to any thing.

If the children like everything prepared in the home, there is nothing like it.

rambabu wrote:

If the children like everything prepared in the home, there is nothing like it.

Yes what we prepared at home always healthy. But some time it is possible that children don;t like all thing. Tea is common drinks at every home. But my son never drink it till the age of 24 years. We never compel or force him to drink it. When he joined bank he begins to drink tea.

Anil, everything depends on the parents. My youngest daughter hates fish, because she has seen how her mother hates fish. Children follow what their parents eat or Bo not eat.

I guess none of you read the article that I gave link for ...

rambabu wrote:

Anil, everything depends on the parents. My youngest daughter hates fish, because she has seen how her mother hates fish. Children follow what their parents eat or Bo not eat.

Right development of eating habits depends on family habits. Except my son we all drink tea, but he begins to drink it only for 3 years.

usha manohar wrote:

I guess none of you read the article that I gave link for ...

I read it well and in fact read the links also...Like why your child is fussy eater and so on.

As a parent counselor, I often face such queries from worried parents who feel that child does not eat enough and they have to force feed. I remember my daughters paediatrician in US who told that never fall for tantrums around food. Children are very smart and they never starve themselves.

As far as allergies are considered, precautions have to be taken and word has to be spread to schools, friends and relatives.

We sometimes force feed one of my nieces who is 5 years by cajoling her to eat. She doesn't like to eat but play with our neighbour. The article mentions that we should let the child decides when she wants to and how much she wants to and we have done that too on one or two occasions but it ended disastrously as she would sleep without eating much and next day would wake up in bad mood due to hunger. So nowadays her mother feed her herself the amount she usually eats.

There is something called eating through senses, which involves a lot of other development in child. It goes a long run in building physical and emotional fitness of child. When we force feed a child we interfere with that development

Agree with you. Force feeding may prove counter productive As far as possible parents should be patient allow the child to have its own eating habits for some time.the child,definitely will show good eating habits after some time.

It is very important for us as parents to recognise exactly when the child should be fed and how much and also help the child recognise these factors for himself. My friend's daughter is a health eater and when my friend prepares her favorite food, she has to keep an eye how much the girl eats and has to be stopped after a certain limit. Otherwise, the girl ends up overeating and falls sick the next day. While my son, no matter how much he likes something, will always stop after he has eaten the amount that he is used to. He usually eats one roti or paratha and no matter how much he likes a certain paratha, he will not eat one morsel beyond one paratha. So each child has his or her own limit and we should actually stop interfering when the kids sit down to eat and observe how much naturally and comfortably they can eat by themselves. That is their limit.

Please do not forget we all were children once.

I was reading other articles on the subject where the general opinion is that eating habits undergo changes in most cases unless the individual has been brought up in a  very rigid atmosphere. I feel that the more choices we give to our children the better eaters they become ..That has been the case with my children and my son , with time has also overcome his allergy to a great extent now..

@ Usha. I totally agree that eating habits undergo changes. I have seen it with myself. I did not like sweets as a child and now I have got a sweet tooth and crave for it. I love bittergourds now though it was not my favorite in growing years

I remember my mother was of the opinion that all the children must eat every food item those get cooked on a daily basis. The items we did not like were served in small quantity but if any of the child had any health issue caused by a particular food was never forced to eat. I used to vomit after eating a particular fish and so neither my mother nor others in the family forced me to eat it. At present, I do eat that fish without any health issue.So, I must say that though my mother taught us to eat every food item, never ever compelled us to eat if we were allergic to it which was a right attitude. We all must follow this attitude.

I never liked meat or for that matter chicken during my childhood and continue to be the same . But over a period of time I have developed a great liking for sea food .. Basically we need to evolve and not stay rigid with our choices which makes us healthier and more accommodating