I always enjoy playing with children. I was a full-time nanny from 2003 to 2005. I also worked for almost two years as an assistant teacher for an international school in Japan. I have two nieces and two nephews whom I adore. Someday I would like to have my own children. Kids are always fun to be with. They will bring joy and open a new world for you. However they can create nightmares for parents and caretakers also, especially when you have to discipline them.
One of the most difficult tasks is feeding children. Feeding becomes like a game, it seems like the more pressure you put on children to eat vegetables or having good eating manners, the less they have an interest in eating right. One of my hobbies is cooking and eating. Mealtime is pleasant for me but why do so many caretakers, including me, struggle to feed children properly?
Generally, through my experience, kids are not interested in eating healthy. They prefer to play than sitting and eating. They are distracted easily by other members at the table (siblings or friends), by TV or by toys. Off course they get hungry naturally and they love eating, but they prefer sweets or junk food to nutritious food. Even though there are so many books/videos talking about nutrition, balanced diet, eating healthy, or the evils of junk food, kids still go for unhealthy bad food. WHY? Reading books about nutrition can keep one healthy for a while but it is very easy to go back to bad routines once the reading is over. When children are socialized to eat what they want to eat most of the time, there are so many temptations and cravings and it is very difficult to control one’s impulses to eat unbalanced and unhealthy food. To eat healthy, one needs to have a strong mind to win over those bad temptations and powerful corporate advertisements for bad food such as McDonalds.
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