5 Reasons why the children should not be forced to eat

The nutritional needs of each individual, regardless of their age, are different, and therefore their intake should be as well. These intakes can not be established by age or gender, since, although the baseline needs could be considered relatively similar - provided the weight and height were - chi

The nutritional needs of each individual, regardless of their age, are different, and therefore their intake should be as well. These intakes can not be established by age or gender, since, although the baseline needs could be considered relatively similar - provided the weight and height were - children are not all equally active, so they should not eat it. same.

Based on this basis, it is very difficult to determine how much our little one should eat, but what is much more evident is that never, under any circumstances, the children have to be forced to eat.

Reasons not to force children to eat

1- Forcing a child to finish the food that is put on his plate, is forcing him to eat more than he needs. It may be the case that it is a food that the child eats willingly, and willingly agree, even unwillingly, to finish the dish, giving us the feeling that if he wanted to eat and if he was hungry, when in reality it is not like that. It is convenient to listen to them and respect their decisions.

2- Through this action we are getting to make the time of the meal a small daily torture, so the child will come with less enthusiasm and we with less patience, affecting the father-son relationship.

3- Making the act of eating an unpleasant moment affects the social connotations of the act itself, being able to affect the way of relating and socializing of the child.

4- Taking into account that eating habits are established during childhood, forcing a child to finish the meal on the plate is establishing inappropriate habits. We are making the child ignore his instincts and prompting him to establish a very unhealthy routine, finish the plate, which may be the first step towards obesity. In fact, the most recent studies establish that overweight begins to work in childhood, and more and more children suffer, being this, along with sedentary lifestyle, one of the main reasons, although not the only one.

5- Forcing the child to eat we are giving him to understand that it is normal for another person to make decisions about his body, teaching them that they are not in control and that it is acceptable for an adult to make decisions for them . We are limiting their autonomy, which stops them from making decisions, in this case about their diet, concealing and repressing the signs of fullness of their own body, again favoring overweight and paving the way to obesity.

The best we can do is observe our children, offer them adequate portions according to what we observe, and respect that their needs may vary from one day to the next. If the food offer is healthy, with high nutritional density foods, our children will know how much to eat to cover their needs.