One question that I received from a parent is, “my child is small and doesn’t yet understand the reasoning. Whatever I offer and ask, I get an answer as No. How do I engage in menu planning?”

Do you also face this issue with your child?

In this post, I am going to share some of the secrets that will help in making this activity better with your child.

Food is an important aspect of our life and parents spend an enormous amount of energy and effort in dealing with it, every day. Unless it is dealt with smartly, any amount of time will be less. At the same time, some children are completely sorted. There is no issue feeding them whatsoever. Are children so different? I am not sure about that. However, I am certain that parents are handling it quite differently. Let’s explore seven of these secrets that will make your experience better while feeding your child.

1. Unlike adults, children do not eat for the sake of eating. If the child is not hungry, it is very difficult to feed them. So, we need to offer food only when the child is hungry, and not before that.

If you offer food and the child is not eating for 5-10 min, please take the food away and save your time. You can check after 30 min, again. Offer food only when they ask for it and are hungry.

2. Children have a small capacity in the stomach. They eat a smaller quantity at a time. Let’s not over-feed them either out of love or to save our own time. This way, we end up wasting more time than saving. So, let’s offer smaller portions at a time. Once they finish it, ask if they want more.

3. Unlike adults, children’s digestive system is working far more efficiently. A small portion itself gives them a lot of energy. Unless this energy is spent and children are tired, they will not pay attention to food. So, we need to engage with physical activities for a longer duration and help them spend energy.

4. Children will have an answer as “No” for all new food being introduced. For a very simple reason – it needs about 15-20 exposures to accept the food. So, parents need to patient and persistent.

5. Avoid taste additives like salt, sugar, etc. Let children develop the natural taste of the food item. We need to offer all varieties of tastes as it influences the body to respond to it and develop the digestion ability.

6. Please do not ask permission from small children as they are not yet skilled to respond to it. However, always inform about the food being served with great details about it.

7. And finally, serve the food in a very interesting manner. Make use of shapes, forms and colors e.g. triangular idly, red chapati, etc.

So, we talked about seven secrets to be used while dealing with food and your child.