nosh magazine
THREE THINGS YOU SHOULD
NEVER SAY TO KIDS AT
DINNER TIME
Deb Blakley shares three tips to help your kids develop a healthy relationship with food.
ositive conversations at family
meal times help to develop a
child’s relationship with food. So here are
three things you should never say to kids
at dinner time and why.
P
1. ‘You can’t leave the table
till you eat everything on
your plate’
When I was growing up, this statement was
often followed by ‘What about all the
starving children in Africa?’
Why not?
We want kids to recognise when they are
hungry and when they are satisfied.
Forcing kids to finish all the food on their
plate teaches them to ignore their internal
cues of hunger and fullness and eat past
the point of satiety. It teaches them to
overeat which can lead to obesity.
Instead try… reminding your child
‘We listen to our tummy and stop when
it’s happy or full’. If they’re still intent on
leaving the table without eating much,
remind them when the next meal or
snack will be, and don’t give in to
begging for food if they realise they’re
hungry later. Kids don’t always get it
right. Sometimes they will eat too much
and other times not enough, but it is a
very important skill for them to learn, so
hang in there.
2. ‘You can’t have dessert
till you eat all your veggies’
Why not?
Offering dessert in reward for finishing other
foods makes dessert seem more important
than the rest of the meal. It also teaches
children to eat past their natural feeling of
fullness in order to get the food reward. You
then present them with the dessert reward
and they learn to override their feelings of
fullness, yet again.
Instead try… telling your kids before
the meal whether dessert is being served
and what it is. Offer a small serving of
dessert as part of the meal, but without the
prerequisite of cleaning the plate. If
you’re brave, set everyone’s dessert on
the table along with the main meal
and let children eat it first if they
want to. Dessert can be something
nutritious like fruit salad and
yoghurt, or a fruit crumble and
custard. Include ‘sometimes’ foods
like ice cream as often as needed, so
they don’t become desirous ‘forbidden’
foods. And of course, you don’t have to
serve dessert every night if you don’t
want to.
3. ‘Look at your brother. He
finished all his broccoli. Why
can’t you eat like him?’
Why not?
Kids learn to like new foods at different
paces and putting pressure on kids to eat
certain foods usually makes them eat less,
not more. Children use their five senses