Cooking For Children - Getting Them to Eat

To be honest this article should really be called – 'getting Parents to Pay attention to what they are feeding their children and sticking with a healthy plan'. Because at the end of it all – what children eat and won’t eat has everything to do with who is in charge.

To be honest years ago when my eldest was small and our diets were good, but not great – we had trouble with him as well. Mostly because there were always options – he knew there was something else that could be eaten eventually. And we would cave in.

The other thing was that I had others from outside my own home breathing down my neck saying – oh, come on, give him the sweets or the junk. It’s just this once. Or some other such nonsense. There were still other influences coming into our home and in his life as well – such as the television, crèche and little friends.

What I was seeing was that even though he ate well most of the time – his preference would be for something sweet or not so good for him. And this was not how we had started off in his life. So where did things go wrong?

It turns out, it was with me. I had gone wrong and as long as I did so, I was the primary influence in his life and certainly with his eating and food habits. It was therefore up to me to make the changes necessary to improve the situation.

I had to begin and then move steadily towards the direction I wanted him to go – but as parents we had to lead by example. At that time he was around 4 years old and had already had more then his share of infections, antibiotics and whatnot – completely against my better judgment.

I knew it was the food that had to change. Each week during the course of a year (there are other factors here too for another time) we removed one thing that was processed or junk.

I started with the cereal – anything that was in a box ready to eat was taken away and replaced with meals that would be cooked – such as porridge. Children like simple meals, they appreciate routine and they have a clean palate that does not require several overwhelming tastes and flavours.

Their digestion is also very much in the development phase and this needs to be nurtured, worked with as well as understood as they grow. Our breakfasts over these ensuing years have became mainly porridge or muesli, whole grain spelt bread, jam and perhaps cheese.

While some mornings we would have fish or eggs, a full meal such as soup or stew, on special occasions we have baked sweet potato with nuts, maple syrup, tahini, or French toast or pancakes. But these are reserved for feast times and special times.

I find that children will generally choose the same things again and again falling into their own preferences and likes. You do not have to give the same meal each and every day, but even with porridge various things can be added to it to provide different nutrients.

For porridge I start out with oats, water, pinch of salt, a pat of butter and ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon or nutmeg. But then I can add in some homemade apple sauce or a fresh apple. Sometimes I chop up some banana or add a handful of fresh berries (these can be cooked into it as well). Once it is cooked you might also add some ground seeds or nut butter.

A different dish or meal can be had each time! Over the years of working with my own family and many others, I have found a few general approaches and ideas that work best. Keep things simple, don’t cater to anyone – you are not running a restaurant and you are the parent – you know what is best.

If you think you don’t know what is best for your family to eat, find out. Basically, the majority of your food should be from plants (that means vegetables, rice, beans, lentils, grains, some fruit). Then fill in the blanks with a little fish, meat, eggs, milk and cheese.

No one on this planet requires sugar, chocolate, sweets, rubbish or junk foods, processed and ready-made meals or caffeine – and these things are detrimental to children because of their high nutrition needs as well as sensitive guts.

In general;

Children eat what they see everyone else eating
Prepare food that is age appropriate (porridge, soups, stews)
Make it fun and make things small (cut up toast into sections, small servings)
Blend, blend, blend…. Soups and stews can have an abundance of goodies!
Cook/Serve for the entire family – don’t cook 2 meals
Balance out sour tastes with sweet (add sweet potato or pumpkin to broccoli)

To improve your children’s diets – it is best to start with yourself. Make significant changes to your own lifestyle and then these naturally spill over to them. In my house the meal is the meal – that’s it, that’s all – and everyone eats it. Because every effort has been made to provide organic, fresh food and a meal has been cooked with care.

Personally I would find food issues too draining – there are so many other things to be doing in life, I don’t want time wasted trying to get kids to eat what is good for them. They will eat it, if you do.

April

Turmeric Rice with stir-fry veggies