Child, eat something healthy!

Vegetables, of course, fruit and wholemeal bread anyway, plus dairy products and pulses, chocolate only now and again - we know quite well what a healthy diet for children looks like. There is no shortage of recommendations and a heartfelt desire to implement them. So what's the problem?

It could all be so easy if it weren't for this little snag: the son or daughter. The child wants pasta, preferably every day, tomatoes in ketchup at best, crows about chips, pizza and hamburgers and swears he will die if he comes anywhere near broccoli. As much as parents disagree on many other issues, everyone joins in the great lament about their children's eating behaviour.
The topic harbours potential for conflict and regularly causes frustration on both sides in many families: for the child, because they feel misunderstood, and for the parents, because their attempts to make healthy food appealing to them don't work. As a result, the dining table repeatedly becomes the scene of major and minor skirmishes.

«No nutritional concept, however exemplary, is worth losing the joy of eating.»

Ines Heindl, Professor of Nutritional Science and Consumer Education at the European University in Flensburg.

Ines Heindl, Professor of Nutritional Science and Consumer Education at the European University in Flensburg, Germany, thinks this is a shame. Because, according to Heindl, no nutritional concept, no matter how exemplary, is worth losing the joy of eating. «We focus far too much on nutritional recommendations and lose sight of the eating situations themselves, which determine whether a meal is perceived as a pleasure or an ordeal,» says the expert, who has been studying the relationship between food and communication for many years.
However, a tense atmosphere at the table, in which there are tense negotiations about what needs to be eaten, is not exactly conducive to associating what is on the plate with good feelings. Anyone who had to sit in front of a portion of spinach at the age of six until it was eaten will most likely still avoid spinach as an adult. Children don't care about the ingredients of a food anyway. The main thing is that it tastes good, and isn't that a thoroughly understandable approach?

Pleasure or agony of choice?

Appeals to health awareness don't get you very far - they don't work particularly well with adults. After all, food is so much more than just nourishment: it can comfort and soothe; it connects, separates and creates identity. Sometimes it is home, sometimes foreign, sometimes disgusting, sometimes delicious. It evokes memories and associations, both good and bad. In short: it is emotional.

«We have an innate preference for sweet things.»

This is the case from the very beginning. Even an infant experiences breastfeeding as warming affection. The relaxation caused by the slow onset of fullness, the closeness to the mother, her voice and her heartbeat merge into a feeling of security that is inseparable from the sweetness of breast milk. The preference for sweetness is therefore innate; every child is born with it, regardless of the culture into which it is born. All human children are also alike in their rejection of bitter flavours: evolutionary protection against toxic substances.

Online dossier

Dieser Artikel gehört unserem
This article is part of our online dossier on nutrition. What's the truth about nutrition trends? How can parents feed their children a healthy diet today without hysteria?

Parents can prevent deficiencies or eating disorders in children

Only with time does a child learn to like sour, savoury and bitter foods - provided they are given the chance. And this is where parents are called upon: in the short term, it may be easier to fulfil children's every food wish. In the long term, however, this does them no favours, as it deprives them of the opportunity to develop their senses and experience different flavours - an omission that is difficult to make up for later. On the other hand, the broader and more colourful the range of foods that children and young people get to know at home, the broader the culinary foundation on which they stand and the better protected they are against deficiencies or eating disorders.

If you want your children to eat healthy food voluntarily, you have to set a good example yourself.

If you want your children to voluntarily choose wholemeal, fruit and vegetables, you have to set a good example yourself. The more genuine and natural, the better, because children have fine antennae for nuances and double bottoms: if the father praises muesli as «healthy and delicious» but doesn't eat it himself, his advertising will have little success. However, if children see their parents eating with pleasure, if the family has an undogmatic variety on the table and if they eat together in a relaxed atmosphere, the chances are very good that they will one day be infected by this and also reach for the chilli, cucumber and pear.
«The example set by parents has a strong effect that you can rely on,» says Ines Heindl. «It is crucial that the «social space of eating» is perceived by everyone as something beautiful and can be enriched with positive experiences.» But what if your little daughter absolutely refuses to try new things? Children are indeed hardened creatures of habit and usually have no problem eating the same thing every day. However, this does not mean that parents have to give in to this permanently. A person's taste develops gradually and in phases: phases of one-sided preferences and supposed regression are completely normal and no cause for concern. «If the parents don't make a problem of it, continue to offer different things and let the child choose, sooner or later their spectrum will expand again,» says Ines Heindl.
So the magic formula is to keep at it and not let yourself be unsettled. And remember that it usually takes several attempts before an unfamiliar food is accepted, so the first reaction doesn't have to be the last word. Two weeks later, in a new context or prepared differently, the judgement may be completely different.

Have confidence and stay calm.

So if you want to teach children to eat a healthy and varied diet, you would do well to practise trust and serenity; attitudes that are extremely useful and beneficial for you anyway.

About the author:

Ruth Hoffmann ist freie Journalistin in Hamburg. Sie kocht leidenschaftlich gerne und schreibt seit vielen Jahren über Ernährung. Die Mutter zweier Kinder weiss, wie schwierig Gelassenheit in Esssituationen sein kann.
Ruth Hoffmann is a freelance journalist in Hamburg. She is passionate about cooking and has been writing about nutrition for many years. The mother of two knows how difficult it can be to maintain composure in eating situations.

Book tip:

Jesper Juul: Food is coming. Family table - family happiness.
Beltz Verlag 2017, 224 pages, approx. 17 Fr.
The Danish veteran of family therapy writes about how we can eat in a more relaxed way at the family table. What to do if your child only wants to eat spaghetti and nonchalantly leaves out vegetables? Jesper Juul surprises us with great tips and tried-and-tested recipes from his Scandinavian homeland.

This article comes from our special kindergarten issue "Tschüss Chindsgi" 04/19 with topics for teachers and parents of children in the second year of kindergarten. A single issue can be ordered here.
This article comes from our special kindergarten issue "Tschüss Chindsgi" 04/19 with topics for teachers and parents of children in the second year of kindergarten. A single issue can be ordered here.

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    What is healthy? And what are we harming our children with? A categorisation.
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