Many parents complain that their children eat little or do not eat certain things. Near East University Hospital Dietitian Gültaç Dayı Çamır says that parents should be role models for their children and should be given the right to choose food. Dietitian Dayı Gültaç pointed out that the child should be asked “Do you think we should make spinach or purslane” while cooking vegetables for dinner so that the child should be made feel more special and help increase her self-confidence.
Dietician Gültaç Dayı, who also said that if children do not eat the food at home, should not be offered alternatives and wait for the child to become hungry, and added; “It is one of the biggest mistakes that parents try to make the child eat something without giving him a chance to get hungry, with the thought that ‘the child will get hungry’ or ‘even if he is hungry, he will not tell’. Don’t be persistent if your child refuses to eat. Do not offer other alternatives to your child so that he does not get hungry. Don’t say, ‘Everything on this plate will be finished!’ Do not overfill your child’s plate, but rather feed him in small portions. Be careful, do not force them to eat one type of food, provide them with a balanced variety of foods according to age.” Gültaç Dayı said that the parent should decide of what, when, where the child will eat; but the child should decide how much he will eat.” Stating that parents should be role models for their children, Gültaç Dayı Çamır said, “In a family where there is a father who does not eat fruit or a mother who picks vegetables from the food, it is not right to expect the child to eat everything that is put in front of him. In this sense, children should be able to exercise their right of choice and their freedom should not be restricted.
Don’t give rewards for food!
Dietician Gültaç Dayı Çamır said that parents should prepare foods that children do not like in a different way. Dietitian Gültaç Dayı Çamır continued as follows: “For example, prepare vegetables that he does not like in different ways at regular intervals and bring them to the table with presentations that he will like. Do not reward your child for eating. While the phrases “If you finish your meal, I will reward you” are a short-term solution, they will cause bigger problems in the long run. Because your child will want to do the things that he has to do by always being rewarded. Parents who panic saying that my child is not eating, reward them when they eat, and make them sit in front of the TV to eat, prevent their children from acquiring healthy eating habits