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Introduction<br />
Nutrition is no different than any other <strong>to</strong>pic. Would you allow your 9-year-old <strong>to</strong> opt out of her least favorite<br />
subjects in school—say, math and science? Just quit, not participate at all from kindergarten through high<br />
school graduation? Why would we knowingly allow our children <strong>to</strong> opt out of the most important food groups<br />
they need for growth, development, energy, and disease prevention? Yet this is what modern parents do: they<br />
leave all food choices <strong>to</strong> the child and throw up their hands, saying, “She just won’t eat any vegetables!”<br />
As parents who embrace being in charge, you can certainly be your child’s friend, just as long as you know that<br />
you’re a parent-leader first—and sometimes your child will resist the structure you provide and even not “like”<br />
you for short periods of time. I avoid fighting with my children about food, and I use firm but positive phrases,<br />
with a smile, such as, “This is what we’re having <strong>to</strong>night.” Or “I’m sorry this isn’t your favorite—sometimes<br />
we have <strong>to</strong> try something a few times before it appeals <strong>to</strong> us.” Or “I think you’ll like this better mixed in<strong>to</strong> your<br />
salad—you’re welcome <strong>to</strong> have a small helping.”<br />
Sometimes I point out that I don’t always get <strong>to</strong> eat my favorite foods every night, but if I did, they probably<br />
wouldn’t be my favorite foods any more. To drive these points home and teach about nutrition on a level even<br />
a young child will understand, I read two of my favorite books <strong>to</strong> my children about food choices: Bread and<br />
Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban and The Children’s Health Food Book by Ron Seaborn.Bread and Jam<br />
doesn’t teach about good nutrition, but it teaches children that life is more interesting when you try new foods.<br />
Because I never found an appealing, completely true, children’s book about good nutrition, I wrote The<br />
Adventures of Junk Food Dude. It teaches about good choices and consequences—in food, at home, and at<br />
school—through a fiction s<strong>to</strong>ry. There’s a picture quiz at the end, and I tested it on children before publishing<br />
it. It is my favorite of the 10 books I have written or edited/published.<br />
I don’t plead, beg, guilt-trip, wheedle, cajole, or whine at my children about food—and I don’t reward those<br />
behaviors in them, either. The rules are clear (after you state and enforce them the first 20+ times): they can<br />
have what is served or skip the meal. They rarely, if ever, choose <strong>to</strong> skip a meal after that initial period of<br />
testing limits.<br />
Some say, “Well, you must just not have picky kids like I do.” In fact, three of my four kids tried out “picky,”<br />
and the youngest two would be insufferably “picky” if I allowed it. Only one of my children has happily<br />
slurped up vegetables since infancy. But they are, at this point, all “very good eaters,” as the saying goes.<br />
The natural consequences of skipping a meal are hunger pains. It’s not abuse and, contrary <strong>to</strong> the strange<br />
traditions you see all around you, you have no obligation as a parent <strong>to</strong> provide a junk food alternative <strong>to</strong> the<br />
family meal. The natural consequences of eating a few bites of zucchini are that you then get <strong>to</strong> eat the rest of<br />
the meal that you like better. Trust in natural consequences as a teacher. They’re “natural” if they’re the family<br />
rules. Parents have the prerogative and even responsibility <strong>to</strong> create consequences. Before the mac-n-cheese,<br />
junk food era, agricultural communities had these family rules for thousands of years: one meal was served,<br />
and everyone ate it or had <strong>to</strong> wait until the next meal. You’ll spare yourself gray hair and a lot of irritation and<br />
drama if you adopt this simple rule.<br />
You might also incorporate what my mom did: we were allowed <strong>to</strong> have one food we absolutely refused <strong>to</strong> eat.<br />
One, not two—and certainly not 90% of foods, like many of the kids I know. Most of us kids had the same food<br />
we loathed: spinach soufflé. (Some of my brothers chose mushrooms as their won’t-eat food.) My mother<br />
consequently raised eight children who will eat virtually anything.<br />
Many parents allow each child <strong>to</strong> eat his or her own separate, cus<strong>to</strong>mized meal. I believe this is an outgrowth of<br />
modern dietitians, pediatricians, and parenting publications always talking about offering your <strong>to</strong>ddler or small<br />
child “options.” As in, offer them a bowl of processed mac-n-cheese or a bowl of steamed broccoli. Modern<br />
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw <strong>12</strong> <strong>Steps</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>Whole</strong> <strong>Foods</strong> 13