While some of the children have a very appetite, some of them may be so unappetizing. This situation makes parents sad as well as a source of anxiety. While the strength of the child who eats healthy is in place, the body resistance of the child who has no appetite is lower. Parents can get angry and enter the reflex of forcing the child to eat. Why Is It Wrong to Force-Eat a Child? Is it punishable for a child who does not eat?
Parents want to raise their children in the best possible way. They prepare the healthiest foods and strive for higher body resistance. The fact that children eat less or have a very poor appetite is one of the most common complaints of families. Families should be calm in the face of this situation, instead of displaying oppressive attitudes. Parents, who seek solutions for this, try to use a punishment or reward system.
WHY IS FORCE FEEDING A CHILD WRONG?
Sometimes your patience may be strained when your child refuses food, takes it out of his mouth, or resists not eating. So you may have tried to force him to eat at times. However, unfortunately, trying to force a child to eat food brings with it many problems. One of them is the loss of confidence despite the mother’s forceful eating. With the mother being the authority and giving the feeling that she will interfere with all her future behaviors, her secure bond with the mother can transform into an anxious bond. This, in turn, leads to the development of individuals who lack self-confidence with the state of being constantly alert and waiting for commands.
IS THE CHILD WHO CANNOT EAT PENALTY?
Punishing children is always a wrong attitude. The reward for the eating problem is completely wrong. When a child is rewarded for eating, he learns to expect rewards after each meal. Afterwards, the child may prefer to eat for a reward, not to meet his physiological needs. One of the main problems of this situation is that it may cause the appetite to start with a reward and continue until obesity in the future or it may cause a complete cooling of the food.
An attitude like waiting for a reward when the child eats because he/she needs it, that is, because he/she is hungry, has a rumbling stomach, and starts to suffer from some deprivation. will not develop. For this reason, the child should never be rewarded for having eaten. He should be told that he needs to eat, even if it is little.
The punishment system should not be used and should not be deprived of food. Again, as it harms the bond with the mother, it can also have bad effects on its characteristic features. The most accurate method to be applied is to ensure that the child tastes everything by eating little by little. Because sometimes children may not want to eat because of the color or smell of food.
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE FOR CHILDREN TO EAT WITHOUT PROBLEMS?
- First of all, a child’s meal should not be placed in front of more than meals.
- It should be given the option to eat whatever he wants by allowing him to stay hungry.
- Certainly, parents should not be nervous. If the weight and height are proportional, it should not be forced.
- Parents, who should be role models, should be informed that the whole family should sit at the table at the same time and eat, and as a parent, they should definitely not be fed a single type of diet.
- The child himself knows whether he is hungry or not. For this reason, you need to give him the chance to eat as much as he wants.
- It should not be chased with a spoon. It can cause both unnecessary effort and avoidance from eating.
- Preparing beautiful presentations and talking about how it tastes while eating as a family can increase appetite and trigger curiosity.
- Stimulating devices such as television, mobile phone, tablet should not be turned on during feeding.
