Do you wish your kid would eat their veggies without complaining? Most parents want their children to be healthy eaters, they just don’t know the right way to go about it. During her years as a registered dietitian, Jennifer Anderson has found that many moms and dads use certain phrases that she says “make kids go off the rails.”
To help your little ones develop a healthy relationship with food, these are the “toxic” phrases parents should avoid:
- “You can have dessert after you eat your broccoli” - If you use sweets to get them to eat something, Anderson says all the kid hears is, “Just so you know, broccoli is bad. It’s so bad that I have to bribe you to eat it.” Instead, she advises saying, “You can eat the broccoli when you’re ready.” That way they still get a choice, which may work better than a bribe.
- “If you’re quiet, I’ll give you a cookie” - The more you use sugary treats as a reward, the higher they go up on a pedestal, and that can make kids want them more than any other foods. Instead, this nutrition expert suggests saying, “If you’re quiet, we can play your favorite game tonight.” She recommends using non-food rewards and enjoying cookies with your kid when they want cookies, not just on special occasions.
- “You have to take one more bite before you can say no” - This basically translates to “You can’t say no, regardless of how you feel.” Forcing your kid to eat can teach them to ignore when they feel hungry or full, which can lead to them struggling to say “no” as they get older. Instead of making them take a bite they don’t want, teach them to politely turn it down by saying something like, “We say ‘no thank you’ when we don’t want to eat something.”
- “It would make me happy if you took three more bites” - When we’re worried that our kids aren’t getting the proper nutrients we might say this, but it teaches kids they should eat to make you happy, instead of focusing on how nutritious foods help them. Instead, try giving them food facts like, “Carrots have a lot of vitamin A, which can help you see better!” That takes your feelings out and may fuel their desire to learn about and try new foods.
Source: CNBC
Scott's Thoughts:
- If it makes dinnertime less of a power struggle, I would have been in when my kids were little.
- I’ve definitely said these things to my kids.
- I think it starts when they are babies. That banana pudding baby food tastes way better than the peas and carrots. Once they taste sweet, it is hard to go back.