By Roy Benaroch, MD
As printed in Around Town Publishing, March 2008
There are certain rules of childrearing that cannot be broken. These are the three “can’t makes”: You can’t make them sleep, you can’t make them eat, and you can’t make them poop. Trying to force any of these issues is going to cause more harm than good.
Though you can’t make a child eat vegetables, there are things you can do that will make it more likely that a child will grow up to eat a larger variety of foods. But parents need to know that there are no guarantees. Some kids are going to be picky eaters, and some adults stay picky eaters. There are many adults here in the United States who never, ever eat a vegetable of any kind–and they’re fine. So whether or not your child eats vegetables now, or even if he’ll ever learn to eat vegetables, should not be a source of stress in your life. Many foods are fortified with vitamins and minerals, so your child is likely getting all the nutrition he needs even without the veggies.
Encouraging a child to eat a variety of foods starts with breastfeeding. Nursing, rather than feeding formula, offers very young babies a chance to experience a variety of tastes, and babies who were nursed are more likely to accept a variety of flavors later.
When babies are ready to start solid meals, it’s very important to eat as a family. Children at every age should see that their parents are eating a variety of foods, and should have a chance at a family meal to learn table manners and conversational skills, too. Family dining helps prevent obesity, academic problems, and even substance abuse. Every family should eat as many meals as possible together.
Toddlers who are eating table foods should be offered exactly the same foods everyone else is eating. In fact, parents should avoid making separate plates for each member of the family, but rather have everyone sit down in front of an empty plate and help themselves to serving platters of food. Everyone should share the same things, and parents should not get up to prepare something different if everything on the table is refused. Getting up to make different foods for the kids encourages them to develop a habit of always refusing the first foods offered. It’s perfectly fine if some of the items on the table are things that the kids usually eat, but those ought to be part of the meal from the beginning, not added on at the end at a child’s request.