This post has been sitting,
half written in my “Work in Progress” folder since the beginning of April. I’ve tried to finish it so many times. I honestly don’t know why it’s taken me so
long to complete. Feeding Ben a variety
of healthy foods is something I take pride in. I’m always on the lookout for a great new recipe,
a healthier way to cook our favorite foods or a good toddler-feeding tip.
There are many aspects of
being a good parent. I believe, among
them is feeding children a healthy diet.
As a mother, I feel a strong obligation to teach Ben healthy eating
habits that will stay with him for the rest of his life. I believe the foundation we lay in the first
few years will most likely dictate how our children eat as adults and how, one
day, they will feed their families. I
want Ben to grow up healthy and strong.
I want him to respect his body by nourishing it with healthy foods. I want him to understand where his food comes
from, which foods provide a good source of nutrients and which foods we should eat
in moderation.
From day one, we have always
included Ben at mealtime. The day we
brought him home from the hospital, I remember eating lunch with him propped up
on the table in his bouncy chair. At 18
months, one of his favorite rooms to play in is our kitchen. It’s amazing to watch him emulate Boris and I;
filling a glass of water in his pretend sink, whisking something imaginary in a
pan on his pretend stove. He’s watching
us closely, he’s learning and soaking it all in. What we do in the kitchen everyday matters,
even at his young age.
When I took Ben for his one-year-old
check-up back in December I was a little concerned about the amount of food he
was eating. Just like me, Ben was, and
still is a small eater. At the one-year mark,
I felt he was drinking a lot of milk in comparison to the amount of food he was
taking in. My doctor confirmed that his
milk intake was within the normal range for his age, weight and height and then
she gave me some invaluable advice.
“Young children know how much food
they need. They’re a lot more in tuned
with their bodies than adults are. They
don’t eat because they’re sad, lonely or bored.
They eat when they’re hungry. The
best thing you can do as his mother is offer him a variety of healthy foods
five times a day (three meals and two snacks).
Make sure he’s sitting at the table (whenever possible), without any
distractions, like TV. Leave him
be. Don’t force him. Relax. There will be days when you feel like he’s
living on air. And others, when you feel
like he’s eating you out of house and home.
It’s your job to choose the food that goes on his plate. It’s his job to choose what and how much of
it to eat”.
I live by her advice. I offer Ben an assortment of healthy (predominantly
homemade) foods throughout the day. More
recently, he has developed food preferences but luckily, he’ll still eat almost
anything I put in front of him. At times,
we indulge in “unhealthy foods” in our household; I go through the MacDonald’s drive
thru when we have a busy day and I also have a weakness for baked goods. I try to limit the amount of treats Ben has
access to but I certainly don’t deprive him.
Ben eats what we eat. Just like
everyone else, he has to learn to make good food choices and I believe that
starts with what Boris and I put on our plates at mealtime.
Ben's first taste of solid foods
