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Parents
Can Help Children Who Are Finicky Eaters
Auburn, Jan. 22---Parents
who dread mealtimes with finicky eaters in the household can help
themselves and their children be successful, says Ellyn Satter, a
nationally known children's nutrition specialist.
Satter, a noted author
and lecturer, will conduct a four-hour workshop Jan. 30 from 1 p.m.
to 5 p.m. for Extension Nutrition Education Program (NEP) personnel
and others attending the NEP annual meeting in Auburn Jan. 30 and
31. She will speak in the auditorium at the Dixon Conference Center
on the Auburn University campus. Satter combines her expertise in
nutrition with her training as a counselor/therapist specializing in
the treatment of eating disorders. She is the author of several
books, including Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense.
Parents often think that
if they can just find the right foods, their child's finickiness
will be cured, says Satter. But curing or preventing finickiness has
more to do with the way feeding is conducted than with the food
itself. In order for a child to learn to eat new foods, those foods
have to show up on the family table. After that, the finicky eater
can be born or made.
"All children are
born sensitive to taste, texture and smell, and some children are very
sensitive. That can be positive or negative," says Satter.
"They can enjoy food a lot, or they can be so upset by
something they eat that they gag or throw up."
The finicky eater also
can be made. Parents who are fussy about their own food often pass
their fussiness along to their children by serving a limited variety
of food or by being unwilling to try new foods.
Pressure also can be
part of the problem for a finicky child, Satter adds. When children
are pressured to eat certain amounts or types of food, they revolt
and avoid eating when they can.
"There's no way you
can get children to eat if they don't want to. What you can do,
however, is stop pressuring them to eat. Instead, teach them to
behave at the table. Then their eating will take care of
itself."
The finicky eater, like
other young eaters, will learn to eat new foods when given the
opportunity. As with everything else, children want their eating
habits to mature. The main task for parents is not to get them to
accept more food, but rather to expect appropriate mealtime behavior
so that eating is not an issue. A finicky eater can't force down
unappealing food, but can learn to behave at the table and cope with
her sensitivities. She can learn to pick and choose from available
foods, eating what she can manage, perhaps sampling other foods when
she is ready, and politely refusing others.
A finicky eater needn't
be allowed to say "YUK!" at mealtime, but rather,
"No, thank you." If a child can say "no" to
food, it will be easier to say "yes" more often. Of
course, adults have to take no for an answer.
For the finicky eater
and other children, Satter recommends a division of responsibility
in feeding: parents are responsible for the what, when
and where of feeding, and children are responsible for
the how much and whether of eating. That means
parents eat with children and provide structured meals and snacks
with nutritious (as well as not-so-nutritious) food that they
choose. Planned snacks are important. They allow children to come to
meals hungry but not famished. They are also essential parts of
eliminating between-meal grazing of food and caloric beverages such
as juice and soda.
Parents should plan
meals so they don't end up short-order cooking for an inexperienced
eater. Satter encourages eating a variety of food at mealtime, then
letting children pick and choose from what is available at the meal,
eating as much or as little as they want. Here's what to include:
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A main dish
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A fruit or vegetable
or both
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Milk
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A starchy food such
as potatoes, noodles, tortillas or rice
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Bread–always
bread. Children can generally eat it if all else fails.
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Butter, margarine
and salad dressing. Lowfat food is neither nutritionally
appropriate nor appealing for children.
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Occasionally, the
child's favorite foods -- but not all the time. Other family
members have rights, too!
When parents follow
these simple rules to help children be successful eaters, they can
plan meals they enjoy. Parents know far more about food than
children. Children will gradually learn to eat the food that parents
eat. Keep in mind children have their own quirky ways of eating –they
will eat a food one time but not another, or eat lots one time and
hardly anything another.
They are likely to need
a long time and lots of experimenting to learn to eat new foods –
except for new cookies, of course. With new cookies, you get
one-trial learning!
SOURCE: ELLYN SATTER
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