WHY do people feel it is necessary to fight with children about food? - Page 4

[Cavy]

I think I'm quite controlling about food, I strictly limit how much sugary food they can have, anyway.  And I'm a bit pernickety about salty stuff.  But that said, sometimes I hear SOME people talking about their food battles and even I shake my head, I'm just thinking I would not make an issue out of THAT.This is separate from kids who won't eat for complicated special needs issues.  It's just about why do some people make battles when you really don't need to.

[Agatha_Ann]

This is such a struggle for me all the time. I have been anorexic since I was 8 years old. It goes away when I am pregnant and nursing, but the second I wean I am completely back. I do not want my children to have issues with food, I'm always extremely careful to eat dinner with my family and I am working everyday to instill self-worth and healthy body images in my kiddos.

Personally, I love watching young children enjoy meals. They are eating to nourish their bodies without any social-media inner dialouge poisoning the experience. I believe my children know their bodies better than I do and they are the best judges of when they are hungry and full. We do plated meals, but I always give very small portions and they can decide what they would like more of. We don't do dessert on any sort of regular basis, but when we do it is open to everyone no matter what they ate. This is a big issue with DH and I, but I don't want my kids to gorge themselves in order to get a reward and then associate the pleasure of dessert with that full feeling you know? My DH came from a family where you ate everything on your plate or you were beat and didn't get the next meal...

My BIL and SIL have a 4 year old who is forced to clean his plate at every meal. And they serve him an obscene amount of food for his age. It breaks my heart whenever we are together. The tables will be empty except for the three of them threatening him to clean his plate. On the other extreme, one of my daycare kids eats chicken nuggets for EVERY meal at his house because Mom says thats all he will eat...He eats a pretty wide variety of great foods at my house?

I think food is such a complicated issue and I am not saying what I do is right or the only way, how wonderful to see 4 pages of Mamas who are following their instincts and doing what is best for their families!

[camracrazy]

Originally Posted by loraxc 

I think my son eats vegetables because he sees Mom & Dad eat vegetables.

Studies do show that modeling is important. However, I know one child whose parents LOVE vegetables and eat them all the time who will.not. touch them. My kids do eat vegetables, lots of them, but I am pretty sure that a good deal of that is just luck. I do think different people have different palates and tendencies--some just find vegetables overwhelmingly strong, some are really obsessively drawn to sugar.

My oldest two won't touch broccoli with a 10 foot pole but my youngest loves it. It surprises people to see a 3 yo walking around noshing down raw broccoli! She won't eat the stems, though.

All of my kids liked corn until recently. It used to be my 5 yo's absolute favorite food, but now she won't eat it. All of my kids used to eat peas, but now they hardly touch them. My oldest will only eat green beans at a certain restaurant we go to about once a year. Who knows why they choose the way they do?

I can remember not liking certain things as a child that I eat now. I can also think of things I used to eat that taste horrible now. I try not to let my preferences dictate what my kids try, but in reality I do the grocery shopping and food preparing, and if I don't like a food then I probably have no clue how to prepare it and don't want to waste part of our grocery budget on something that might not get eaten. I will buy them stuff I don't like if I know they will eat it.