Today, within our Special Infant Feeding, we are going to talk about the good habits related to food, which, without being purely nutritional issues, if they are going to influence children to eat healthy and have a correct attitude towards food. Remember that when we eat, we not only eat, we also communicate.
There are those who do not know how to eat even if they are fed correctly, and that is the one who has not internalized the social aspects of food.
Eating, in human beings, is a social act. And as such we should consider it. From the beginning of our history as a species, the moment of feeding is a cause for celebration, conversation and cooperation. This is perhaps the most important habit that we must take care that our children acquire, which when we eat we not only eat, we also communicate.
Family mealtime
In this accelerated society it is increasingly rare to find families that make all the meals of the day together: work schedules, schools and travel time prevent it. Therefore, when possible, you have to take advantage of it and enjoy the experience of that the family feels to eat all together at the table.
If it is possible in these family meals, ideally, preparing food and setting the table could also be done as a family, but it is not mandatory.
What it would be is Let the meal be a moment of communication pleasant and in which the bonds of love between those who sit together grow and become stronger, getting to know each other better with shared conversation.
Good nutritional habits, like those of respectful behavior, children will learn by looking at our example. Therefore, rather than send them to eat healthy and force them to be "educated," we must be and teach them by our example.
The food must be a pleasant moment
Have you tried to eat while they yell at you, reproach you or make you cry? The stomach is closed and, normally, if we eat upset or find pleasure in food or feel good. For this reason I want to emphasize that during meals it is not time to scold children, but to listen to them. The food must be a pleasant moment.
Democratic meals
Another of the mistakes that families make when they sit at the table with their children is to establish a tough hierarchy in which adults and young people obey and, worse, send children to silence while the elders speak. Family meals should be democratic In communication.
All diners are equally important and everyone has the right to give their opinions and tell their concerns or experiences being heard by others. If parents are not willing to listen to their children during the meal, they should not eat with them, really.
Many children need to get up while eating
In addition, the needs of children and their character must be understood. The little ones will have many difficulties to remain seated when they have finished while the elders are distracted by chatting on the desktop, above without being able to interrupt.
There are those who give children something to play or a console, but, honestly, for that better let the children get up and play. If we want them to respect we must start by respecting them, not stuning them so they don't interrupt, but if letting them get up if they need it while we eat.
With the little ones or very moved children making them eat sitting is a real torture for them. The social aspect of food implies that sociability is a free act, and furthermore, in no natural norm is it written that you have to eat sitting and not moving.
If children need to get up, play, go back for one more bite, the truth is that there is no reason to prevent it and, in fact, if they do not normally feel constrained they can better accept that on certain occasions they will also have to give in if the norm social indicates. But not always or without reason.
For them, eating is part of their life, not ours. We are their educators and caregivers, we teach them by example, but we do not own their bodies or their wills.
Table hygiene
Before eating the whole family should wash their hands as essential hygiene standard at the table. Better than sending the child to do it, and of course much better than calling him dirty if he has not done so or threatening him with horrible diseases, it is easier to approach the bathroom or sink together and wash our hands.
To do it well you have to use soap, warm water and scrub at least fifteen seconds. Let's do it and explain how it is done. The example, once again, is much more educational than orders.
Distractions while we eat
I wanted to highlight the importance of example and communication in family meals and I reminded you how inappropriate it is to give the child a device to be distracted and not interrupt us while we eat. And, linking with this, we get to television and phones, pernicious distractions on the table, which interrupt the communication.
The appeal of television as background noise is incomprehensible to me. It bothers me and, in fact, in my house the television is not in the living room, because precisely I want to avoid turning it on without a specific reason.
I do not want to say at all that it must be banished necessarily or that eat with tv Be a huge mistake. Everything has nuances. One thing that, without a doubt, we must avoid, is to eat with the TV in the background or plug the children some drawings to leave us alone. And, of course, we should never eat with the news, because they are programs loaded with explicit violence and truly prepared to engage attention without offering critical information. With the kids Better not to watch TV and talk as a family.
Anyway I am not blunt in this regard. In some cases, even if we eat as a family, you can watch a program, as long as it favors conversations and do not force us to a respectful silence before the device, that is, if we are not many at home and we all like it we could watch a documentary or an interesting film with cultural content, better on video to be able to stop when someone wants to comment or ask something.
Although, the truth, this advice I think comes from my deformation as a teacher and also as a homeschooler mother. For us any time is good to learn and also, we spend the whole day together so that food is not that special moment of communication, because we are not lacking in the other hours. Therefore, I rectify and clarify, if food is practically the only moment of the day in which all the family gets together and on top of the children with children, better never turn on the TV.
And I emphasize, we must not put the drawings, but neither the news nor the gossip programs. Nothing on TV is nothing on TV for everyone. And by the way, just as we are not going to let ourselves be interrupted by television, it is not too much to turn off cell phones and disconnect the landline while the family eats. If it is urgent, they will leave the message. If it is not, our family deserves the respect that we do not get up or get to answer a call in the middle of the meal. As always, let's practice the example.
With all this I want to emphasize the important idea of the social and relational aspect of family food. When we eat we not only eat, we also communicate, and of course we must do it with the children.
In Babies and more | Good eating habits from birth, Letting them eat alone and choosing food, Bad eating habits, are they inherited or learned?
