Feeding Children Responsibly

Ellyn Satter's Division of Responsibility in Feeding

"You can't play with your toys until you eat your broccoli!"

Sound familiar??

You may think you are doing your children a favor by helping them to branch out and try new things, but some studies show you may be doing more harm than good. According to Ellyn Satter (author, trainer, psychotherapist, and eating therapist) there is a division of responsibility between the parents and child concerning meal time and what is eaten.

The Parent's role:
-choose and prepare food
-provide regular healthy meals and snacks
-make eating times pleasant
-teach children about proper mealtime behavior
-don't let children "graze" between meals and snacks

In essence, the parent is responsible for what, when, and where.

The Child's role:
-deciding how much they eat
-deciding whether they eat anything at all

Fundamental to parents' jobs is trusting children to decide how much and whether to eat. If parent's do their job with feeding, children will do their job with eating:

-children will eat
-they will eat the amount they need
-they will learn to eat the food their parent's eat
-they will grow predictably
-they will learn to behave well at the table



*To learn more read Ellyn Satter's Books- Child of Mine:Feeding with Love and Good Sense, How to Get Your Kid to Eat...But Not Too Much, Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family, and Your Child's Weight: Helping Without Harming