by Holley Nash, RDN, LD
Most parents do not consider the impact that their family food culture has on their children and their children’s relationship with food. As parents, we are responsible for not only feeding our children thousands of times throughout their lives, but also for establishing our children’s eating habits, food preferences, willingness to try new foods, and food behaviors. That’s a lot!
So, what is a “food culture”? It is the way your family acts, reacts and interacts around food and feeding. Here are some questions that I ask the parents I work with to help them start thinking about the food culture their family shares:
All of your habits and routines surrounding food and eating create your family’s personal food culture. As you can imagine, not all food cultures are beneficial or help children to develop a healthy relationship with food.
For example, if you have a picky toddler and every meal is focused on trying to get the child to eat, the child is learning that he can control meal time and his parents’ behavior. He also receives lots of attention because of his refusal to eat. This type of interaction makes the meal time experience terribly unpleasant and stressful for everyone – especially you! It is very important that your family share meals as often as possible, but if meal times are rife with conflict, no one will want to come to the table. The food fight must stop.
The first step toward shifting the food culture in your home is to understand and embrace the division of responsibilities:
Parents are responsible for:
Children are responsible for:
It sounds simple, but many parents struggle with the fear that their child will not eat enough, or that they will not eat enough of the “good” foods served. Have no fear. If you are setting the table with a variety of nutritious choices, your children will be getting what they need.
I know that for most of you reading this, these suggestions seem almost impossible to adhere to. I can hear you saying:
“My son will never eat vegetables.”
“My daughter eats like a bird.”
“My kids will only drink juice.”
There will be a period of adaptation, of course, but once the rules are clearly established and understood, meals will become much more pleasant. Since you will be serving a variety of wholesome balanced meals and snacks on a regular schedule, your children will learn what they can expect and will be ready to eat when meal time comes. And let’s not forget that the key to creating good eaters is for parents to be the best food role models they can be. Children learn from their parents’ behavior, not their words.
If you feel like your child continues to struggle or needs additional support and encouragement, please make an appointment with us so we can provide you with a full nutrition assessment.
References: Castle, J. (n.d.). Nourish a healthy child [Pamphlet]. Jill Castle Nutrition.