by Deborah Towles
Synopsis: The strategies that help parents encourage picky eaters also help adults feast fully at the spiritual banquet that God has provided.
Mealtimes can be a time of feasting, not only on delicious and nutritious food but also on love and fellowship. Most mothers take seriously their responsibility to provide healthy meals for their families. Yet, meals are often a time of frustration and contention instead of occasions of relaxed companionship and positive communication. The very thing that should unite the family can be a source of discord and frustration as a result of picky eaters. Young children's taste preferences take time to develop; they often prefer the comfort of familiar foods and view strange new items on their plate with suspicion. Some strategies can help children overcome their initial rejection of new foods and support parents in their desire to raise strong, healthy children.
Providing healthy options fulfills a parent's primary responsibility regarding food, but some things can be done to encourage a child to develop healthy eating habits. Introducing new foods in very small portions, along with familiar favorites without undue pressure, is more effective than forcefulness. Asking a child questions, encouraging observation and discussion about a new food helps it become familiar and less threatening. Don't expect a new food to be a hit the first time it is offered. It may take a child as many as fifteen times before he feels comfortable with a new food. If he ventures a taste, ask him to tell you about it rather than, "Do you like it?" A child who is actively involved in growing, choosing, and preparing a new item is more likely to try it. Modeling healthy attitudes toward food is essential. Does your child see you enjoying your meals and willing to try unfamiliar items?. Sometimes a child may need to get hungry so that the food set before him is more appealing. Even too much of a good thing, like milk or juice, can blunt hunger enough to replace necessary nutrients found in other foods and can promote obesity and malnourishment. All of these things take time and patience, but the results are rewarding to all.
God has invited us to a feast (Luke14:16-24), no meager pauper's meal with mean portions and scant choices, but an abundant, luxurious banquet, a time of celebration, fellowship, and blessings. Unlike a physical meal, this feast is not a smorgasbord from which we may pick and choose. If we do so, we deny ourselves the true spiritual nourishment and health with which God means to bless us. We may initially look with distrust and suspicion on the unfamiliar choices before us. Does a serving of forgiveness seem foreign because we have been gorging on grudges? Is the flavor and texture of real joy completely unfamiliar because we have only dined on pleasure? Do we choke on a serving of humility because we have only been consuming pride? Are we malnourished because we have been feasting on the nutritionally empty junk food the world offers? Do we recognize our hunger for real food that fills our greatest desire and thirst for the drink that quenches our desperate need (John 6:4, 10-14)? If so, come to the feast that God has prepared with the courage and willingness to taste and see that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8). It is only here that we can truly be filled (Matt. 5:6)!
The same strategies that help our children overcome the limitations of picky eating can help us benefit fully from the bounty of God's great feast. In so doing, we help lead the way for them to come to their place at the table of the Lord. Bon Appetit!
Author Bio: Deborah is the wife of Gale Towles who preaches for the State Line church of Christ in Charlotte, NC. Gale and Deborah have been married forty-two years. They have four children and twenty biological and two foster grandchildren. She can be reached at dtowles321@gmail.com.
