So my first born started weaning and gave me all the trouble in the world in feeding him. He wouldn’t swallow whatever I’d put in his mouth. Whenever I saw a child eating his food and swallowing it too, I would stare at him in disbelief and yearn the same for my son, who was a bit more than a fussy eater.
I remember once someone told me about how the obesity rate in children is rising because of eating while watching television. I tried feeding my son in front of the screen so that he too, gains some weight. But no sir!
He always had his own plans. This always made me get upset. Some days I’d even get depressed. People around me would tell me how they had such healthy (read: obese) kids and how my son looked so weak (which he did not, he had an ideal weight according to the WHO chart). This societal bullying (as I would like to call it and if there is a term like this) would make me mad and I would try to force feed him, which by the way is also a kind of abuse. Guilty as charged!
And this is just one such instance, I’ve witnessed more. I’ve seen families where children are forced to choose particular fields as their profession whereas the child himself wants to pursue his career in sports. A sportsman father would want his son to become a sportsman like hime and would work as hard as possible to make him believe that, that is the only option he could choose.
Parenting begins with the attribute of acceptance
What we forget is: children are as different an individual as you and I are. They can have their own choice with everything. Try finding that out and then try again if you fail the first time. Do not expect your assumptions about them to be fulfilled at all cost. Let them voice their opinions, they have a right to make choices.
These minor events in my life gave me an insight to a very major aspect; when we get coerced by the set standards (set by whom, we’ll never know), we mistreat our child and that not only complicates things for us but also for our children who are way too naive to understand the insane chase.
We need to understand that the society will always set unmatchable standards for a child at all stages in their life. But it should be you who needs to assure them that no one else except them matters, for what children seek the most is approval from their parents… yeah, that’s the truth.
Don’t let anyone or even your expectations push you into snap decisions regarding your children. Encourage your child to give their best. Trust them! Try giving them the liberty to think. Even if they lied to you on some occasion, tell them you trust them. Children are not inherently evil, when they see you put your belief in them, they will come to you and admit that they lied. And just when they do that, tell them you will always know when they’re making up stories, but that doesn’t take away the confidence you have in them. This is a very successful strategy for getting rid of habitual lying in children.
Accept their weaknesses, accept their strengths and then plan to work accordingly.
“A child is an angel with wings, it is the guardian who has the choice to either burn the wings or strengthen them for flying”. (Anonymous)
Do not burn the wings! So the next time when your little one gives you a hard time with feeding, try to discover what is it that she would like to eat instead of what you just fed her.