The dinner table can be a war zone. Peas end up in mommy’s hair, tears and screams abound, and the term "full" can only be used to describe the floor. Is this battle of parents versus picky eaters even worth fighting? A new study in the medical journal Appetite shows that picky toddlers who are pressure fed by their parents don't grow at healthier rates and don't stop their picky-eating behaviors.
As a child psychiatrist, I agree. The emotional cost of getting a few vitamins in their vegetables just does not outweigh the numerous benefits of making dinner a fun, nurturing experience. Forcing children to eat something they don't want to eat isn't good for their physical, emotional or psychological health.
Here's why, and what families should focus on instead.
Parents, many of whom were required when they were kids to clean their plates before leaving the table, might say that their goal for pressuring their kids to eat is to help their children become less picky with food and to make sure that their kids maintain healthy growth. This rarely ends up having the intended benefit. The new study just examined over 200 picky-eating toddlers and showed that pressuring kids to eat just didn't help. The kids in the study were ages 2 to 6, which is prime time for refusing greens as their growth slows, and their appetites follow.
Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, a pediatrician who is an ABC News contributor, weighs in. "Little babies eat frequently and triple their weight in the first year of life," she says. "But it's normal for their growth and appetites to slow after that, and for them to start telling us what they like."
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