Eat It or Go Hungry

Eat What’s Served

I’ve heard so many older people say their parents laid down the law that if they didn’t eat what was on the table, they didn’t eat. I challenge that. How many of you were served just one food at meal times, especially dinner or supper (depending on where you’re from)? Maybe you didn’t get dessert if you didn’t eat everything on your plate, but I bet most of us filled up on the foods we liked or could at least tolerate and left the rest behind.

Even if the main food was a casserole with mixed ingredients, I know parents tend to make what they know their children like or will eat without ever thinking they may be accommodating their child, unless the disliked food was a favorite of one of the parents. Or if a hated food was one of the ingredients, it was hidden so the kid never knew it was in there. Come on, what parent hasn’t done that?

Kids and Yucky Foods

I had an abhorrence of any kind of fat on meats as a child and still as an adult. My parents tolerated meat scraps on the plate but when it came to bacon for some reason, you either ate the whole slice or nothing. Cooked crispy, I ate the entire slice. Any wiggly, slimy section got spit in my napkin and flushed down the toilet. Even little kids can be pretty crafty. Probably would have been easier if we had a dog.

Positive Rules

I do know of parents who served the same uneaten, hated food meal after meal until the child ate it or it spoiled. I find such behavior the parent’s obsessive need to control, which taught the child nothing but the same thing. My kids ate all kinds of fruits and vegetables when young. One has a real aversion to certain textures. Both changed as they got older and eat far fewer foods than in childhood. I thought it was supposed to be the other way around.

We can guide a child to eat healthy in several ways. Don’t buy too many junk foods. Use colors, smells, and textures so food seems appetizing. Make trying new or previously disliked foods a positive experience by expecting them to try it but giving them the okay to accept or reject it. Most important, be a healthy example. Trying to force foods on anyone never works.

Share your fun or horror stories about food.