Do You Serve Your Child What You Eat?

It can sometimes be really very exhausting to be at your best self, just  because your children are sure to copy you. I personally believe it’s our daily lifestyle that our children pick up the quickest. From how you talk on the phone, to how you walk and also what you eat. 

I believe, your efforts to raise a healthy eater should begin as  early as you start weaning your child. It’s a habit or a nature of an individual that you have to develop in your child since childhood. This might sound easy but isn’t a cakewalk at all. 

You have to try different ways, different food options to inculcate this habit. To ease this journey, I highly recommend serving your kids exactly what you eat. As said above, kids love to imitate their parents and serving them the same food will give them another chance to imitate you and trust me on this, they would enjoy the food to another level. 

This can be subject to the age of your child but once your child is able to chew his/her food on its own you can practise this. Following are some benefits of serving your child exactly what you eat. 

Easier to introduce new food: Children are usually not very welcoming for a new taste. But when you share the mealtime and eat the same with them, they would like to try it with an excitement of imitating. Few children also like to eat from their parent’s plate and feeding them the same introduces them to new food and let them explore a different taste everytime. 

Eases your household chores: Sometimes it’s really difficult to manage the baby and household chores. If your baby eats what you eat, it will minimise your cooking chores and you can spend more time enjoying the meal with your baby. 

You can feed baby whatever you eat in extreme situations: In any extreme situations, when you are stuck in traffic jam (very common in city like Mumbai) you can feed your baby anything that’s available around rather than just looking for sometimes difficult to find specific baby food. Secondly, This will also help you travel light with your child as, You no more will have to carry a bag full of baby food.

Easier to cut back on junk and allow treats in moderation: By just monitoring your intake of junk food, candies and ice creams you can monitor theirs too. It’s easier to restrict treat days when you follow it for yourself and also more easier to feed them healthy food when you eat the same. 

As mothers we should try hard to not comment on how much is the child eating. If you play a role of food enforcer the more will your child resist food, try and make mealtime more fun and interesting and give important to physical activities. Always remember you have done your best by serving them a balanced meal. I religiously practise serving my child what I eat while sometimes making it a little kid friendly. Do you make a separate kid friendly meal everytime that you know your child will eat? Share with me what’s your take on this.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article are the personal views of the author. They do not neccesarily reflect BabyChakra’s point of view. BabyChakra does not assume any responsibility for the views expressed in the article. 

Also Read: It’s Your Me-Time Mommy!

Explore the entire collection of articles: Real Mom Stories

#eatinghabits #mealtime