Healthy, Happy Eaters… No Helicopter Parents

What if I told you that forcing your kids to eat is a bad idea? What if you could improve your family’s health by making a couple of simple changes?

Contrary to many parent’s beliefs and actions, children shouldn’t be forced or pressured to eat anything (including veggies.) What whaaat? Seriously, this study just adds to the body of research showing these results:

• Children who had more control over food-related decisions were more likely to enjoy eating healthy foods
• Urging a child to eat increases food neophobia (fear of new foods)
• Offering new foods reduces food neophobia
• Children with high neophobia scores tended to like fewer foods

Translation – You, the parent, should present an array of healthy foods to your child and let them decide how much of it to eat. Your child doesn’t need to be urged, coaxed, or tricked into eating more.

Want to feel confident knowing you have some simple, kind phrases up your sleeve to reduce your stress and frustrations at mealtimes? Get started below. Start minimizing mealtime meltdowns and stop fighting with your child so you can enjoy mealtimes again.