Children are ideally very active in terms of immune , growth and adaptability. They are prone to adopt the habits of acquiring the new tastes and diets as they are given. The children gimmick what they see around them. If the food habit the elders in the game are not correct the children will follow the same habit. So it works in both negative as well as positive ways. If we as parents are habituated to store unhealthy and junk food items, ready to eat packets, at home pantry and in our refrigerators the children will get the idea to follow the habit of demanding and consuming those food like the packages food, chocolates and other stuffs. If we are practicing in reality what we are preaching to our children then the children will surely follow by observing us.
We are in a obesogenic environment. We cannot keep the children aways from the information out there regarding food and habits. But it is our responsibility to ensure the way it gets communicated to them in a right way. It is a continuous task. The elder and parents have to set an example for the children to observe and then follow. Now a days the pediatricians are recommending such supplements because there is this craze and demand going on amongst the parents especially the mothers. By seeing the growth of the children and the lifestyle of the family, the demand gets satiated. Internet also plays a major part in spreading and penetrating information into the minds of the modern mothers. The probiotics and supplements have become like addiction. It has to be taken at least somewhere and sometime in the childhood.
Most parents use bribing certain food items (chocolates,Aggies, pizza, Berger, cold drinks etc) for the children while making them do any task such for studies, home work etc. With children, rewards and punishments should not be associated with the food. By doing so you are destroying the emotion and relationship with the happy food. Children are very joyous when it comes to their food. The parents should not give these loose statements that we will give mommos or pizzas if the homework is completed. It is very much convenient for the parents to handle the children and also for fulfill one own insecurities with regard to the competition that goes on in schools, studies and so on.
Schools are also now promoting junk food day in their tiffin menu, like one day is dedicated for junk food. The children can eat the unhealthy stuff on that day. So it is ideally wrong to inculcate this psyche in the minds of the children. The relationship of the children with the food is being hampered. They are not getting the knowledge of their food and it’s habits.
The taste buds of the children are now vary varied because of the exposure of enormous food items and their information. When preparing a tiffin box for the children, it is needed to make a conscious effort to make it appealing by putting some nuts, give it a colorful look with nice veggies, add some leafs like coriander or mints in their parathas, add some sesame seeds, to interest the children.
The particular food items the children is fond of can be included during some special days like festivals, celebrations or functions instead of giving it as reward or punishment. For the schools it is definitely wrong to title it as a junk food day because the language plays a very crucial role in creating the awareness.
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