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There is an issue that teachers may not give too much importance to educational level, but if the parents are concerned, and a lot. The food is a source of constant struggle between parents and children. Many parents ask me desperate advice because your child does not eat alone, because he does not eat certain foods or because they simply do not eat anything.

Obviously, and as you all know, I am not a pediatrician or nutritionist, but I have read a lot about this topic, trying to find ways and tricks for the meal time is not so traumatic, neither for you nor for them.

With this post I intend to help a little bit on this issue and give some guidelines or tricks that superéis in the best way possible.

Before starting to see those tricks to try to improve mealtime, We must take into account some considerations.

First, you must look for the reason why your child has lost his appetite.

I always recommend that parents take their child to the pediatrician first., to rule out that we are facing a medical problem. Once they told you that the child is perfectly, Then try to think if there could be any other reason for this lack of appetite..

Loss of appetite can also be caused by wake up call: The arrival of a little brother or the lack of dedication on the part of the parents are the main reasons why many children stop eating., or do it alone, searching in this way for that moment in which they become the protagonists again.

Nor can we forget more obvious reasons such as an illness, period in which everyone, even us adults, we lose our appetite; or those children who eat anything between meals and of course when meal time arrives they don't want to eat anything.

Once we are clear about the reasons why your child does not eat, We are going to see some eating habits that we must respect to achieve our goal.

1º Take the opportunity to shop with your child. The moment of purchase is a very good time to introduce new foods., see together the variety of fruits and vegetables that you have and explain their usefulness: "Mira, carrots are very good for the eyes", take the opportunity to tell him what you are going to have for dinner, In this way you are involving him at meal time, and the purchase is a prior and very important moment of this.

2º It is very very very important that let's respect meal times. When I meet with my parents, I always emphasize the importance of establishing a series of routines in the little one's life.. Have you not wondered why your children behave worse and are more out of control during the holidays...? well there you have it, when children lose the security that established routines and habits give them, his behavior is completely out of control. The same thing happens with meals and that is why it is so important that we respect their meal times..

3º Just like the timing of food is important, the place is too. If we want to establish a routine and a pattern, we must try, as far as possible, that he child always eats in the same place. Further, It is important that from a young age we teach them that they must remain seated at the table and that they cannot get up whenever they want..

4º Since we were little, We must instill in the little ones that meal time is a family time, in which we take the opportunity to talk, tell about the day's experiences, etc. Keep in mind that in most cases your children will eat at school, That is why dinner is a good time to establish a dialogue between the family.

Don't make the mistake of entertaining your child with TV or stories., first, because there will come a time when this will lose its effectiveness and, in second place, because we must teach them from a young age to enjoy the moment of food, that they understand that when we are eating we are not doing other things. As you will see, This point is closely related to what we have already discussed about establishing guidelines and routines in the child's life..

5º Do not despair when faced with the little one's “no” It is also of utmost importance. It is normal for children to be somewhat reluctant to try new foods at first., keep in mind that they must get used to it little by little. If they tell you no, give it to him again in a few days, and always in small doses, first a teaspoon, then two... and so on until I end up eating the entire plate.

The mistake you should not make is to prepare another dish for them if they do not like the one you have given them., because then you will have already entered the wheel. It is preferable not to eat, for him to be the one who decides what he eats. Surely the next meal you will end up eating what you previously rejected.

6º It is also important that Take care of the size of the portions you give your child, Not all children eat or need to eat the same thing.. If your child is healthy, strong and what he eats is healthy and balanced, you should not worry. Further, It is better that you give him a plate with something less and ask for a second., to see the plate full of food and get discouraged.

7º When we talk about small children we must be careful and Don't be too demanding from the beginning. The rules must be introduced little by little. First get him to eat, to later introduce rules such as taking cutlery properly, do not put your hands in the food, etc. Further, as I always tell my parents, At first we should be generous with rewards and praise. If we have gotten him to eat, even if it's half of a dish that I usually didn't try, You can give him a small prize like choosing the dessert from a series of options.

Even a simple smiley face in your hand works with small children.. Little by little you can increase the level of demand, but little by little 🙂

The majority of teachers, We believe that positive reinforcement is preferable to negative reinforcement.. Avoid messages like, “If you don't eat everything, “You don’t go out to the park.”, is preferable, “if you eat everything, “We are going to spend the afternoon in the park.”, We are saying the same thing but with different words and positive messages are much more effective.

Once we have started to apply these guidelines, I will tell you some “tricks” to get him to eat and stimulate his appetite..

• Make food fun.

We have already discussed the importance of involving your child at the time of purchase.. But, Why not also let them participate in the preparation of the food??

From the age of three he can help you set the table, even perform some tasks like washing lettuce, or for example, put the chickpeas in water, further, Tasks like these will be great for developing fine motor skills..

With older children you can even make more complicated recipes., to help you add certain ingredients to a recipe, knead pizza dough, beat the eggs or anything else you can think of. I assure you that the fact of having participated in the food preparation process will whet your appetite..

• Make dishes attractive.

A very simple trick to coax your child, is to make the dishes more attractive.

For this all you need is a little imagination and, very much looking forward!

When offering the fruit, for example, cut it and place it in an original or different way, and in the mash: why not draw a happy face with some croutons?

Children love bright shapes and colors. Let's use this to present the dishes in an original way. This does not mean that you spend hours and hours in the kitchen, many times with the simple fact of adding a touch of color and a certain placement you will have it done.

What do you think about placing the broccoli sprigs as if they were little trees?? What if we make a little homemade mayonnaise and put it on top?? snowy trees!! You will surely love it!

Right now you may be thinking: “I'm not very creative.”, “I can't think of anything”. Don't worry!, On the Internet you have a multitude of web pages with recipes and ideas to make with the little ones in the house..

Some pages like little ones, They are dedicated exclusively to offering their readers recipes to make with the little ones in the house.. On this website you have a multitude of options, from recipes to make as a family to ideas for holding a children's party. Don't forget to check it out because I'm sure it won't disappoint you..

Another very complete website of recipes for children is recipe, where they offer you everything from original dessert ideas for children to fun recipes to give a different touch to your dishes..

In addition to these websites, You have digital magazines dedicated to the care of the little ones and that usually publish articles on this topic. In Beingparents, tYou have a very interesting article with 24 recipes to make with the little ones in the house.

Yes, if you are more paper than digital resources, the book by Bridget Wardley and Judy More, “365 recipes for babies and preschoolers”, offers you, as its name indicates, 365 recipes to make with or for the little ones in the house.

Image property of Blume.

The good thing about the recipes in this book is that they are practical and simple recipes., so you won't have to spend too much time preparing it.. Further, includes a selection of weekly menus, to help you shop and plan meals in advance.

I take this opportunity to remind you that, only for specific moments, You have tools such as the table and the rewards puzzle, whose realization we saw in the post “How to improve your child's behavior”. I say for specific moments because it is not highly recommended to use the reward system with food., unless we are facing a very extreme case. There are many psychologists who affirm that this is a habit that must be integrated into a routine and not as a negotiation.. Therefore, First we must try to put into practice everything we have seen before.

Further, Another super simple exercise is to make a chart illustrating the different activities that the child does throughout the day and the time allocated to each of them.. In this way the little one will see that the extra time it is taking to eat, you are sacrificing it from other activities that will surely be much more attractive.

By last, Remember that for your children you are their example and main reference model.. You cannot expect not to eat a certain food and have your children eat it.. Debemos enseñar, first of all, con el ejemplo.

Hasta aquí el post de esta semana. ¡Espero que me vayáis contando vuestros avances!

Kisses to all.

Que la comida sea tu alimento y el alimento tu medicina.

hippocrates

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Tags: Comer mejor, Comida, Tips, Children, Tricks

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 26th, 2014 at 7:16 pm and is filed under Means. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.