Is it our *job* to monitor or control what our kid eats?
Most parenting advice, when it comes to kids and food, sways heavily toward the ‘what kids should and shouldn’t eat’.
They might throw in something like, it’s all about balance.
Which makes it seem like our job to ensure that what goes in their mouth is just the right amount of this and not too much of the other.
Two things about this.
You can’t make your child eat anything (or stop them from eating anything). Of course, you can demand some short term obedience (you don’t get pudding until you’ve eaten your carrots), but demanding short term obedience doesn’t work out in the long run. You can listen to a 25 min conversation with Evelyn Tribole about this here. Kids are LESS likely to eat nutritious food as adults if they have to eat it as children, and likely to eat more of what is forbidden or limited as kids.
This making sure your kids eat right stance forgets that eating is not just about nutrition. I’m not suggesting that nutritional content is not an important aspect of eating, but I am saying, so are joy, social interaction, peace of mind and trust. Think about the kid who gets all the nutrition in the world, but is anxious, sneaky, out of touch with their bodies hunger, fullness and satisfaction cues.
If you’d like to stop monitoring and controlling, and instead teach your child to trust themselves…
Or can see they’ve started sneaking or hiding what they are eating from you and you’d like parenting tools to deal with that quickly and powerfully…
I hope you check out the Raising Body Confident Kids online course today.
In the course you’ll learn…
– parenting tools for Raising a competent eater,
PLUS
– tools to have hard conversations (so your child will listen).
– tools to help your child boost their sense of belonging and significance, regardless of what they look like
– tools to help your child self manage what they see online (and the time they spend on screens) so their body image doesn’t get destroyed
– tools to help your child take part in household chores without fight or fuss so they can learn the power of contribution
New affordable pricing plans have just been released. I hope you’ll join in. You can find out more here.
Emma x
PS. For a deeper dive into the science behind why teaching kids to trust their unique bodies works out better for them in the long run, check out this 25 min podcast interview with Evelyn Tribole.
Like what you’ve just read? Get the free Raising Body Confident Kids 3 part audio training (5 mins each), plus weekly-ish coaching emails.