Usually, parents know how to create a nutritious meal, but they don’t know how to get their children to eat it. The reason: We’re having the wrong conversation about feeding our children, says sociologist, parent educator, feeding expert and author Dina Rose Ph.D.
The key is to help shift the focus from a suppertime onslaught of “just one bite!” to a pressure-free discovery of new foods. Teach good eating as a skill and good nutrition will naturally follow. Dina believes that all children can learn to eat right if their parents change the way they interact with them around food. “Just like children need to be taught how to walk, read or dress themselves, healthy eating habits must be taught. Once you do, children will benefit from a lifetime of happy and healthy eating.”
I had a chance to interview her to learn more.
Why can focusing on nutrition backfire?
Nutrition is about food; eating is about behavior. When we think about the food too much we forget to think about the habits we’re shaping.
Focusing on nutrition encourages us to choose marginally healthy foods because they have some of the “right” nutrients (which “dumbs down” the diet), to serve our children the same foods over and over (which teaches monotony, not variety) and to feed to our children’s taste preferences rather than work to actively shape their taste preferences.
Why does the common "just taste it" phrasing not work as well as expected?
Kids comply by putting a bite in their mouths (because they want to be good kids or because they want to get parents off their backs) but it doesn’t mean they’re really tasting the food. Plus, children who are really reluctant to try new foods get scared off by the prospect that if they do like the food they will have to eat it. For adults, this makes no sense. We want to eat food we like. For some kids, however, the prospect of eating something new is terrifying so they go into that “taste” with resistance.
How can parents focus on habits instead of nutrition?
Put your teaching “hat” on, not your feeding hat. Identify the behaviors you want your children to learn and then figure out the lessons your kids need to master in order to eat that way. Want your kids to eat a variety of food? Don’t feed them a monotonous diet. Identify a level of variety your child can handle and implement that step. For instance, I recommend parents use the Rotation Rule, don’t serve the same food two days in a row, using foods your kids already like. This isolates the behavior of eating variety and eliminates the question of whether your child likes the food. For some children, variety is two completely different foods (eggs, then cereal). For others, variety means two different kinds of cereal. And for others, it means cereal served in a different color bowl. Find the amount of variety your child can handle, but not too much variety that they shut down. Apply this teaching method to anything you want your kids to learn.
How does "food exploring" work?
Exploring is exactly what it sounds like. Let your children learn about food using any sense they are comfortable using. For some children this is looking. Others are up for smelling. Use a pea-sized sample of the food so your children are confident you aren’t going to make them eat the food.
Dina has a new course available for parents and caregivers to help them navigate food, eating, meals, snacks and behaviors. The theme of the online course: adding variety to your child’s diet. This can be a great resource if you're really stuck with how to encourage good eating habits with your kids.
DINA ROSE Ph.D is author of IT’S NOT ABOUT THE BROCCOLI: Three Habits to Teach Your Kids for a Lifetime of Healthy Eating (Perigee) and creator of SUPER FOOD EXPLORER KIT: Discover Food One Poke, Rattle, Sniff, Slurp at a Time. Dr. Rose has been training parents, pediatricians, dietitians, and early childhood educators in the Habits Approach for the past decade. Her work has been featured on television, radio, and in print and online news sources. Whether she’s speaking at an intimate gathering of parents, a professional conference, grand rounds or delivering a keynote address, Dr. Rose’s message is pragmatic, memorable and so unique it has been called “transformational.” In addition to writing her own blog, It’s Not About Nutrition, she is also a regular contributor to Psychology Today.
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